
Class ^E 3 7 S^ 
Book _ , \A 7£_ 

DEPO: 



SMITHSONIAN ' i/ePOSIT 



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OF 



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JAMES MONROE 



sa. 



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RELATING TO HIS 



UNSETTXiSD CZiAIMS 



UPON THE 



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PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES'. 



-o^e^a- 



c/) CHARLOTTESVILLE, VJ. 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GILMER, DAVIS AND CO. 

1828, 



\ 









The memoir, remarks and documents, which will be. 
found in the following pages, were printed in the National 
intelligencer in November, 1826, and reprinted in a few 
other papers. As they treat of occurrences which are in- 
teresting to the public, as well as to the individual to whom 
they relate, it is thought proper to collect and republish 
them in a pamphlet, that the whole may be seen at one 
view. 

By these papers, as originally drawn, the difference be- 
tween the claims as presented to the committee to whom 
they were referred,, and the decision on them, was not 
shewn. The remarks were written while the claims were 
under consideration, and the memoir refers to the difference 
in general terms only. A concise view is now taken of it 
in the memoir, as will be seen at its conclu:ffon. 



THE MEMOIR 



OF 






Believing that I had been injured by the settlement of my accountSf 
for services in former stations, I deemed it proper to bring my claims 
before Congress, on the 5th of January, 1825, at the expiration of 
which session, my term, in the high trust with which I was then hon- 
ored, expired. I did not ask a decision on those claims, at that time, 
but sought only to bring them under consideration, that they might 
be decided on after my retirement. 

As objections were raised against those claims during the last ses- 
sion, to which the observations which I had presented to the commit- 
tee to whom they were referred, at the preceding session, did not ex- 
tend, it became necessary for me to give further explanations, appli- 
cable to each objection, so far as I was accjuainted with it; and hav- 
ing no direct correspondence with the committee, I requested Mr. 
Gouverneur to attend in Washington, to receive those explanations^ 
and to commmiicate them to those who might be willing to peruse 
them, which he accordingly did. 

It may readily be conceived, that it was impossible for me to advert 
to claims, founded on presumed injuries, in the settlement of my ac- 
comits, without taking into view the causes which produced them. 
The great lapse of time which has intervened, may have erased those 
occurrences fro n the minds of others, but, with the indi\ddual, all the 
incidents which affected profoundly his character, his welfare, and 
his peace, remain connected through life, and it is natural for him to 
review them v/ith deep interest, in his retirement, especially if recall- 
ed to his rf'emory by others of a like kind, proceeding from them. 
My recall ^rcm my first mission to France of 1 794, was the ground on 
Vhich the v-ilaims arising under that mission were principally found- 
ed. Possessing documents illustrative of my conduct, in the very 
circumstance for which I was recalled, that wore never used before, 
14 seemed incumbent on me to make them known on that very inter- 



esting occasion. Willi that view, I transmuted llioii lo Mr. Goiiver'- 
neiir, with the explanations specifiL>d, to be used in like manner. I 
took that measm'e witli no uniriendly feeling- to any one; indeed such 
leeling-, so far as it ever existed, has long smce ceased. My object 
was to place my conduct, by such additional evidence as I possessed, 
in an occurence of high importance to my country, as well as to myseli, 
in tlie light in which I knew that it ought to be viewed. I was very 
anxious also, to make known the kind and favourable sentiments 
wliich were expressed of me, by the illustrious individual by whom 1 
was recalled, on receiving information of my conduct, from a very 
respectable ii'iend, in whom he confided, who was with me, and well 
acquainted with it, at the period when my recall was decided on. 
The favourable opinion of tiiat individual was always an object ol" 
the highest interest to me. 1 had served under him as a subaltern, 
in our revolutionary army, and had witnessed his very exemplary 
conduct at the most difficult and perilous epochs of that great strug- 
gle. I had received his approbation of my conduct in that straggle, 
and been promoted by him. I was a member of the Revolutionary 
Congress in 1783, and present when he resigned his commision as 
Oonmumder in Chief of our Armies, and retired to private life. I 
knew him at his residence in reth'ement, as I afterwards did while a 
member of the Senate, when at the head of the goveriiment to which 
he was called by the unanimous sutfrage of his fellow citizens, and I 
have always cherished the highest respect for his memory, and ad- 
mired his great virtues and talents. 

There was another instance in which my character had bi^en as- 
sailed in that mission, the circumstances attending which, I thought 
proper to avail myself of that occasion to explain. After my recep- 
tion in August, 1794, by the National Convention of France, the com- 
mittee of public safety offered me a house for my accommodation, as 
the Minister of the United States, in any part of Paris which I sliould 
prefer, and sent mc a carriage and horses, without waiting for my an- 
swer. I declined the hou^:e inuncdiately, on the principle, that the ac- 
ceptance of it was forbidden by an article of our constitution, and, 
after retaining the carriage a lew weeks, until I had obtained one ol 
my own, I returned it with the h.orses, with a request that I might be 
permitted to pay for their use, in t!ie same manner as if I had pro- 
cured them of an individual, Vvdiich was granted, and performed. At 
the instance and earnest pressure of inany of my fellow citizens who 
were then in Paris, who thonght that the refusal of those accommoda- 
tions might revive suspicions which liad before existed, and Uuit the 
purchase of a house on my own account would have a good eftect, and 
be useful lo them and to our (country, in the then state of our affairs, I 
l)()nght one of an individual, declaring to those in power in France 
that I did it to acconnnodateme as the Minister of their ally, and with 
intention to offer it to my government, on my retirement, on the terms 
on which I had purchased it. Having documents to prove this fact. 



with the heavy loss which I sustained in consequence thereof, as I 
believed, by my recall, I forwarded them to Mr. Gouverneur, with 
the others. 

Soon after my recall from this mission, I was appointed by my na- 
tive State to the oflice of Chief Magistrate, in which I served the 
constitutional term of three years, and retired from it with the appro- 
bation of my" fellow citizens, as was evinced by the vote of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, and more particularly by the manner in which it was 
given. My affairs requiring it, I resumed immediately my station at 
the bar, and with a fair prospect of success. I was at no time rich. 
My landed inheritance in Westmoreland county was small, but still it 
was something. By the sale and investment of the amount received 
for it in other lands, as soon as I arrived at maturity, I had laid the 
foundation of independence, and should have attained it had I pursued 
the profession of the law a few years longer: for I possessed, at the 
time of my appointment on my first mission to France of 1794, more 
property than I now hold, and owed comparatively nothing. 

At this moment, an event occurred which produced great excite- 
ment throughout our (Jnion. By the treaty of St. Ildephonso, be- 
tween France and Spain, the latter had ceded to the former Louisi- 
ana, and had suppressed, as is believed, at the instance of the then 
government of France, our deposite at New Orleans, the right to 
which had been secured by our treaty with Spain of 1795. The ex- 
citement produced by that act was universal throughout our Union, 
and particularly ardent in the Western country, the commerce of a 
large portion of which, was dependent on the free navigation of the 
Mississippi. The aggression justified war, and many were piepared 
to risk it by removing the obstruction by force. 

The President preferred a different policy. He resolved to make 
an experiment of a pacific character, by a special mission, with inten- 
tion to resort to war, so far as depended on him, should that mission 
fail. In that emergency he demanded my service, and nominated 
and appointed me to France and Spain, without consulting me, but 
with a perfect knowledge that I should not decline the mission. 

Independent of any favourable opinion, which the President might 
have entertained of me personally, arising from the very friendly re- 
lations which had so long existed between us in public and in private 
life, there were considerations known to the public, which, doubtless, 
had weight with him in making the appointment. My zeal, in favor of" 
the free navigation of the Mississippi, had been shewn on several im- 
portant occasions. As far back as the year 1786, when a member of 
the Revolutionary Congress, I had strenuously opposed a projected 
treaty with Spain, by which, had it been concluded, the use of that 
river would have been suspended for a term, and our right to it, as I 
thought, impaired. It was known that I wrote the paper, which was 
presented by the delegates of the State, in opposition to that project.* 

' See Secret Journal of Concress— Foreia;n Affairs— vol, 4th, p. 87, A115.29, 1786. 



s 

vl mention this occurence with no unfriendly leeUng' to Mr. Jay, oui- 
then secretary of Joreign affairs, for no one thinks more highly than 
I have done, and still do, of his talents, revolutionary services, and 
general merit, wliich I take tliis occasion, with pleasure, to declare. 

Another instance had occured, in which my zeal, in favor of the 
free navigation of this river, had been displayed. In January, 1795, 
in my first mission to France, at a period when our relations with the 
French government were of a most friendly character, France and 
Spain being then at war, and the armies of the repubUc victorious in 
every quarter, and particularly in Spain, a negotiation being sought 
by the latter, and existing between the two governments, I presented 
a note to the French government, in which I urged, from motives of 
policy, which ought to have weight with that government, the ex- 
ertion of its influence, to secure to us the free navigation of that river, 
either by extending it to a negotiation then intrusted to Mr. Short, our 
Minister at Madrid, or by providing for it in its own treaty. These 
facts being well known to tlie Union, could not fail to have their ef- 
fect, in every quarter, as to the zeal wliich I should carry with me 
into the negotiation.* 

The presumption was equally strong that I should be well received 
by the French government. As my efforts to preserve a good under- 
standing between the United States and France, in my former mis- 
sion, had produced some effect on the policy of that government to- 
wards the United States, and much to its displeasure, after it had de- 
cided on a change of policy, it was natural that the censure inflicted 
on me by my own government, by my recall, on the presumption 
that I had failed to perform my duty to it, and to my country, in that 
very circumstance, should excite some feeling in the government of 
France, and restore to me its confidence, which had been withdrawn. 
The men still in power were all of the revolutionary character, with 
most of w!iom I was personally well acquainted, and had witnessed 
their gi'eatest diflliculties. I was the first minister who had been pre- 
sented to the republic; had beheld three great movements against 
them — those of Germinal, of Prairial, and Vffidemiare — in the latter 
of which Barras commanded the National Guard, and Napoleon Bo- 
naparte acted under liini. This occurred at the moment when the 
Convention was engaged in the act of transferring the government 
from itself to the Directory, and to the two Councils. I was in the 
Hull of the Convention just before the attack commenced, and retir- 
ed from it at the instance, and under the guidance, of some of the 
members, who led me through the Carousel, by their cannon, whose 
matches were lighted, bearing up towards tlie street Richlieu, where 
those of ihe seelions were posted, and Ughted against them. I had 
-scarcely passed the latter when the action commenced, at about four 

» Sec the view wliich 1 printed, on my return from this Hjission— "Notes on Mis5is3ip- 
j»i, coramtioicatcd to Ihc Com. of P. S." p. 134. 



o'clock, P. M. and which continued till ten at night. No other citizen 
of our Union held the same relation to them. See, in the View, &c. 
three letters to the Secretary of State, in which I give an account of 
those three movements, viz: April 14th, 1795, p. 146; June 14th, 1795, 
page 1G8; and October 20, same year, page 269. 

It might fiairly be inferred, therefore, reasoning on the best propen- 
sities of our nature, if that government could be induced to yield to 
our demands, that it would be gratified to make the accommodation, 
at the instance of one, with whose good wishes they were acquaint- 
ed and whom they had injured. They had had before no opportuni- 
ty to make to him any reparation. A few days after I took my leave 
of the Directory, not being able to sail for the United States during 
the winter, and unwilling to remain a sp^^ctator of the distressing in- 
cidents which followed, I proceeded to Holland, and remained there 
until the spring, at which time I hurried through France to Bordeaux, 
from which port we sailed. 

My reception by the French government, in my second mission, 
on my return in 1803, was as kind and friendly as could have been 
expected, from what had before occurred. That the mission contri- 
buted to the result contemplated — to prevent war, and secure to us, 
by the treaties which were then concluded with the French govern- 
ment, not only the free navigation of the Mississippi, but all Louisi- 
ana, Mr. Talleyrand's letter to Mr. Livingston, which was written af- 
ter my appointment was known in France, while I was at sea, Mr. 
Livingston's letter to me in reply to mine, announcing my arrival at 
Havre, and the extract from Col. Mercer's* journal of what passed be- 
tween Mr. Livingston and me on the evening of my arrival in Paris, 
will distinctly show. Mr. Talleyrand states, in explicit terms, that 
the first consul thought it improper to commence a negotiation, on 
the ground of Mr. Livingston's complaints, until Mr. Monroe, the 
Minister Extraordinary, whom the President had appointed to dis- 
cuss the subject, should arrive, and he heard, that every matter sus- 
ceptible of contradiction might be completely and definitively discus- 
sed. He states, also, that the first consul had charged him to assure 
our government, that, far from thinking that their new position in 
Louisiana could be an object of solicitude, or cause the least injury 
to the United States, he would receive the Minister Extraordinary whom 
the President had sent to him, with the greatest pleasure, and that he 
hoped that this mission would terminate to the satisfaction of both 
States. Mr. Livingston congratulates me on my arrival, and expres- 
ses an ardent desire that my mission may answer mine and the 
pubhc expectation. War, he says, may do something for us; no- 
thing else would: that he had paved the way for me by his memoirs; 
and if I could add to them an assurance that we were in possession 

_ *He was the son of General Mercer, who fell in the battle of Princeton, in our revolu- 
tionary war. He was an eniighleiied and estima.bie citizen, who acconipauiwl Mr, Mo\^- 
roe, cs his friend. 



10 

of New Orleaas, we might do well. Willi the sentiments contained 
in tills letter, those which were declared by Mr. Livini^ston, after my 
arriv al in Paris, were in strict accord, as appears by the extract from 
Colonel Mercer's jonrnal of what passed in our first interview. On 
beiniJT informed that the motion which had been made in the Senate, 
for taking possession of New Orleans by force, had tailed, he express- 
ed hie regret at it, under a belief that force only could give it to us. 
It is justto observe, that in expressing this opinion, Mr. Livingston show- 
ed no excitement whatever, but appeared to speak under a thorough 
<^onviction of what he believed to be the fixed policy of the French 
government, founded on his communications with the Ministers, and 
what he knew of the character and policy of the first consul, in other 
respects. It affords me pleasure to add, that, in the negotiation which 
was commenced inmiediately afterwards, and in the result procured 
by. the treaties in which it terminated, great harmony prevailed be- 
tween Mr. Livingston and myself. 

The representation then made to me, and by authority entitled to 
confidence, was tliat the first consul having his cabinet assembled at 
St. Cloud, and walking in the garden with the members who com- 
posed it, having heard of the arrival of the Minister Extraordinary at 
Havre, conmiunicated to them the fact, and then observed that the 
negotiation should be immediately commenced, and addressing him- 
self to Mr. Marbois, added, that "being an affair of the Treasury, I 
will commit it to you." His motive for committing the negotiation to 
Mr. Marbois, and in a manner not to wound the feelings of Mr. Talley- 
rand, may be readily conceived. It was added, by the same authori- 
ty, that, until that moment, so decided was believed to be the pur- 
pose of the first consul, to cede no portion of the territory in ques- 
tion, and unchangeable his views, after making a decision, that none 
of his ministers would have ventured to propose it to him. The sum 
suggested in the first interview with Mr. Marbois, as that which his 
government had a right to claim for this territory, was one hundred 
and twenty millions of francs, the estimated value of Tuscany, which 
had been given for it; but this was not insisted on, nor explicitly pro- 
posed. It was the subject only of free communication. The first 
pro|josition which he made, was that we should give for it eighty mil- 
lions, of which sixty should be paid to France in cash, in one year, in 
Paris — the other twenty to our own citizens; and that the vessels and 
goods of France should be perpetually exempted, in the ports of the 
ceded territory, from foreign duties. The change which was made^, 
by the payment in stock, instead of cash, with the limitation of the ex- 
emption of French vessels and goods from foreign duties, to twelve 
years, with every other change, from this project, was the effect of 
negotiation and accommodation. I add with pleasure that the con- 
duct of Mr. Marbctis, in every stage of the negotiation, was liberal, 
candid and fiiir, indicating a very friendly feeling for the United States, 
and a strong desire to preserve the most amicable relations between 
the two countries-. 



11 

It is ^ust to state, that the frank, candid and friendly conduct of the 
two o-reat houses of Hope, of Amsterdam, and of Baring-, of London, 

by ofiering- to us loans to any amount we mig-ht require, at the usual 

interest rendered to the United States essential service in the nego- 
tiation. ' We had reason to believe, that the knowledge of those of- 
fers and the confidence \vith which it inspired the French govern- 
ment, that our stock might be converted through them, into cash, at 
a fair price, aided us in prevailing on that government to accept the 
payment in stock, and to lessen the amount demanded for the terri- 
tory ceded. 

It is just also to acknowledge the attention received, and good offi- 
ces rendered in the negotiatio^n, by Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of 
the first consul, who invited me to an interview immediately after my 
•arrival in Paris, and gave mc assurances of those good offices, witji 
whioh I was satisfied he complied. 

In regard to these two missions, I shall remark here, that, for the 
mortification and distress to which I was subjected in the first, I have 
derived great consolation, from a belief tliat the portion thereof which 
arose from the distrust v/hich was manifested of me, by the French I 
government, enabled me, under the hifluence of just causes, to pro- 1 
mote in some degree, in the second, the hiterest of my country. 

None of these documents relating to either mission, were ever pub- 
lished before, nor should I now publish them, if my advancement to 
office was depending in any instance, before my fellow-citizens. 
They are connected with the history of our Union, respecting which, 
in ail its important occurrences, a just opinion should be formed. In 
the present state, they can affect me, in point of character alone, ab- 
stracted from every other consideration. To this I have looked witli 
great sensibility through life. Having had occasion to notice both 
missions, in their most material circumstances, with a view to my 
claims, and in consequence character, I have thought that it was not 
only proper, but a duty, to communicate every document which could 
throw light on either the one or the other. 

At the expiration of the second mission, I retired to my farm in Al- 
bemarle county, in which I had resided, when at home, from early 
life, and to which I have been nmch attached, having- always lived in 
great amity with my fellow citi/.ens there. Our affiiirs contiiniin? to 
be unsettled, I was elected by them, in 1810, a delegate to the Gene- 
ral Assembly, and by it, during the session, to the office of Chief Ma- 
gistrate, and shortly alterwards, invited l)y my trend Mr. Madison, 
then President, to the department of state, which I accepted. In that 
department and in the department of war, I served under him, and till his 
retirement to private life, on which event, I was elected his succes- 
sor to that high trust. In these latter offices I served my country 
fourteen years, and in wliich, I well know, that I devoted my best ef- 
forts, with unwearied zesil, to promote its prosperity and wellare. To 
imputations that were raised agajnst some portions of my conduct in 



tliese ofFicoF!, I thoiicrht it proper to give explanations, in my commu- 
jiicatious to Mr. Gouverneur last winter, and to wliich I now refer. 

Hince my retirement, congress have passed an act respecting my 
claims, of a nature very diiierent from what I had anticipated. As 
this act has rejected one very important item, and moditied others, in 
a manner to reduce, very materially, the amount claimed, I think it 
proper to state, brieiiy, the dilierence between the claims and the de- 
cision, so as to enable my fellow-citizens to form a correct judgment, 
whether justice has been rendered to me by the act. 

^ The claims whicli I presented for both missions, were few and spe- 
ciaL They were confined, strictly, to incidents attending each; and I 
asked only, in regard to each, the allowance which had been made to 
others, in like cases, where the like had before occurred; and in those 
wliich were peculiar, the like having never before occurred, such 
compensation as, on the principles of justice, I knew I was entitled 
to. On account of the first mission, I asked the salary belonging to 
the office, for tiie term during which I was detained in France, after 
my recall, by the season, and the want of a suitable vessel, in which 
I to embark my family, with an increased allowance for contingent ex- 
\penses. I asked, also, interest on those claims, from the time they 
became due till paid. For the second mission, I asked interest on the 
outfit, which had been withheld from me on my appointment, till the 
time it was allowed, with interest, on the aggregate till paid. 2d. An 
allowance for the sum paid for a passage in a vessel, in which I did 
not sail, my insti'uctions not having been prepared.- 3d. An increas- 
ed allowance for contingent expenses. 4th. An allowance for my de- 
tention in England, after my return from Spain, by special causes, 
when I had the permission of the government to return, and should 
have returned, had I not been prevented by those causes. 

By the act referred to, the salary belonging to the office, for the 
term durin<r which I was detained in France, after my recall from the 
first mission, by the want of a vessel to bring me home, was allowed, 
and an increased allowance was also made for contingent expenses, 
by placing me, on the average, with the allowances made to all our 
ministers, with every power, for like expenses. The interest claimed 
on both items, was suspended until 1810, the period at which the ac- 
count foi' the second mission was settled, about thirteen years after 
the first claim became due, and a longer term after the second. For 
the second nnssion, the interest claimed on the outfit, which had been 
withheld on r.:y appointment, for the term durmg which it had been 
withliekj, with interest on the aggregate afterwards till paid, was re- 
fused. The average allowance made to all our ministers, for contin- 
gent expenses, was adopted. Tlie claim for money paid lor a passage 
m a vessel, in which I did not sail, was admitted, as was that for de- 
tention in England, after my return from Spain, when I had permis- 
sion to return home; but the interest on those several claims was sus- 
pended If) tlic period specified. 



13 

As the justice of my claim for contingent expenses in the first mis- 
sion, in the extent claimed, and to interest on the outfit witlilield in the 
second, has, I presume, been fully shewn in the remarks which fol- 
low, I shall add nothing respecting the decision on those items here; 
nor shall I, for the same reason, add any thing on the decision respect- 
ing interest on the claims generally, contenting myself with a reference 
to the illustration given in those remarks, of those subjects. Some 
considerations, however, force themselves to my recollection, on a 
view of tlie objections raised against my claims, which I deem it 
neither improper, nor, in the sUghtest degree, indelicate to mention. 
Indeed, I consider it a duty to do it. In pecuniary transactions, the 
conduct of each party to the other; the benefit which either derives 
from tlie good offices of the other, merits attention. This is done be- 
tween individuals, and is equally proper between an individual and the 
public. If this is looked into, how will the accomit stand between 
my country and myself? What sums did I borrow in the late war, 
when in die department of war — in the hour of our greatest peril — 
and what was the saving made to the public by those loans, indepen- 
dent of the support thereby given to our military operations? Trea- 
sury notes were then selling at 20 per cent, discount, and all the loan& 
which I made, after that of the first million, which was made imme- 
diately after I entered the department, were made at par, by which 
^20 in the $100 were saved to the country — -one fifth of the whole 
amount of the loan. This service was the more burdensome, because 
I was, at that time, charged with the department of state, as well as 
of war. I was invited by the President into the latter office from the 
former, in consequence of the emergency which had occurred, and 
on which account I most readily accepted it. Governor Tomkins, to 
whom the department of state was then offered, having declined it, 
I M'-as again charged likewise with that department. At this period, tlie 
war pressed with great violence along the whole extent of our sea 
coast, and on our western and north-western frontier. There was 
not a city which was not menaced with invasion, in defence of which 
it became necessary to call into the field a strong force. For such an 
emergency, the treasury was not prepared, and, in consequence, it 
became my duty to make provision for the support of the troops in the 
best manner that I could, which was done by loans from banks and 
corporations, in every quarter of our Union, in which they could be 
obtained. In many instances, these loans were made by me personal- 
ly, with the agents of the institutions, who attended for the purpose, 
and m others, by officers who acted under tlie department, and on its 
responsibility. The sum thus borrowed, amounted to several millions 
of dollars, as has been shewn by one of the documents heretofore 
printed, and may be seen by reference to those in the department of 
war. For every thousand dollars, thus loaned, two hundred were 
saved, and for every million, two hundred thousand. Important as the 
saving made by those loans was, in money, they were of much 



14 

greater importance in other respects. Without their aid, the sup^ 
plies necessary for the support of the troops could not, it is bc^ 
leved, have been furnished. They must, therefore, Iiave suffered 
much, and might have been forced to retire, and leave our cities open 
to the enemy. I do not boast of this, nor of any other service. It 
was my duty to render all that I could, and I certainly did. I never 
mentioned it otherwise than in reference to my claims. But when 
justice is withheld from me, in instances in which it is fairly due, by the 
withholding of which I have suffered so much, and am still suffering, 
it is natural that the saving derived to my country, from this service, 
should recur to my recollection. 

Whoever takes the trouble to examine my claims, will find that 
they have stood on peculiar ground; that they did not involve tiie 
simple question only, in what manner the accounts for the in:portaat 
missions, to which I was appointed, should be settled, and for v/hat 
extra expenses and advances interest should be allowed nie, in the 
settlement. The account for each mission was settled in due time, 
alter my return from it, and injustice done me by the settlement. An 
inquiry has been made, why did I not apply for justice sooner? An 
answer will be found in the observations which I presented to the 
first committee, to whom my claims were referred, and in the re- 
marks which follow; which is, that I could never ask of one adminis- 
tration, what had not been allowed by another; that such claims could 
be settled by congress alone, and that there never was a time when 
1 could make the appeal to that body prior to that, of which I availed 
myself, the moment preceding my retirement from the late office, to 
be decided on after my retirement. 

When an injury is done to a citizen, especially by the settlement of 
his accounts with the government, the ordinary rules of limitation 
and interest do not apply. The delay in making the application for 
redress is a proof of respect, and the obligation on the government to 
make reparation, to the full extent of the injury, the more forcible. 
The motive to urge those claims, in reference to my private interest, 
was strong, but I did not yield to it. I encountered the difficulties 
arising from the injury I had sustained, in seeking redress, by a re- 
liance on my private resources, by loans, and the pledge of my pri- 
vate property. The length of the delay, as I was taken almost 
through the whole interval in the service of my country, during 
which I could pay little attention to my private concerns, and which 
yufl'ercd by neglect, could not fail to augment considerably those 
debts. Tn presenting my claims to congress, I nevertheless asked 
nothing which I did not know was strictly due to me, with interest 
on the sums from the time they became due till paid. Had the sums 
claimed been granted promptly, and in full extent, it is probable that 
I might have made such an arrangement with my creditors, by 
means thereof, with the aid of my property, as wcmld have been 
satisfactory to them, and have retained a provision for my family: 



16 

Bat tlie rejection of a large portion of those claims, with the fall in 
the value of property, nearly one half of what it would have sold for 
ten or twelve years since, has had an effect which I did not antici- 
pate. 

It is a fair object of inquiry, when a citizen who has long and faith- 
ftilly served his country, in important trusts and difficult conjunctions, 
has been injured in tlie settlement of his accounts for such service, 
or any portion of it, whereby he has sustained great and heavy loss- 
es, whether the mere payment of the sums thus withheld, with inter- 
est on them, is the only reparation which ought to be made to him; 
whether some indemnity is not due for the losses thus brought on 
him. Heretofore I have looked to no such object, because I was 
willing to bear the losses to which my zeal, in the service of my 
country, had exposed me, while I believed that my resources, with 
the aid of such allowances, would enable me to fulfil rhy engage- 
ments, and retain a very limited support for my family: But under 
existing circumstances, I have no hesitation to declare, that I think 
that some such indemnity ought to be made to me. 

JAMEe MONROE 

Virginia, J^ovember^ 18%6. 



ON 



THE CLAIMS OF MR. MONROE, 



REFERRED TO IN HIS MEMOIR. 



Objections have been raised to the allowance of interest on Mr. 
Monroe's claims, and in several instances to the cioims themselves, 
I propose to examine these objections, and in doing which I shall ad- 
vert to the argument only, and not to the spirit with which the objec- 
tions are urged, nor to the quarter whence they come. If well 
founded, tliey ought to have weight. If not, they ought to be disre- 
garded. 

It will be proper, in the proposed investigation, to proceed with 
the items, in the order in which they stand, commencing with those 
of the first mission. To do justice to the subject, a repetition of what 
has been already suggested, will be unavoidable. To comprehend 
the force of objections, the claim must be stated, and to repel them, 
the reasons which were advanced in its support, when presented, 
must be repeated. I shall, however, be as concise as the nature of 
the case will permit. 

The first item in his claims for the first, is for compensation for th^ 
three months and twenty days, the term of his detention in France 
after his recall. To this it is objected, that the office having ceased, 
the compensation should cease also: that his delay in France, after- 
wards, was voluntary, and that, on the same principle, he might have 
claimed it for a year, if he had remained there that term. The fact 
was otherwise. Mr. M. was recalled, o,t a season, beinsf in the win- 
ter, when it would have been dangerous to have sailed had he been 
able to have obtained a suitable vessel, in which to liave embarked 
with his family. It is shewn, however, by the evidence of impartial 
and verv respectable citizens, that such £^ vessel could not at that time 
3 



IS 

be procured. The ports of France were generally blockaded by 
British cruisers, and our commerce much interrupted otherwise, with 
that country, lie Vv^as detained through the winter, by compulsipn, 
and finally forced to go to the most cUstant port, that oi' Bordeaux, to 
find a vessel in which he could sail. To dismiss a minister from office, 
on a belief that he did not i)erform his duty, or was placed by circum- 
stances, in a situation to be less able to perform it than others might, 
and at a period when he could not leave the country, and to take from 
liim, durbig that ternj, the salary allowed to the office, thereby sub- 
jecting him to heavy expenses, v/hichhe could not avoid, bears on its 
face the strong mark of injustice. His clahns rest on the principle, 
not of a resignation of his office, and voluntary delay in the country, 
for the term specified, but of a dismission from h, at a time when he 
could not leave the country. It appears that he never asked, or 
would accept any allowance for it, from any subsequent administra- 
tion. That there never was a time when lie thought it proper to bring 
it forward, sooner than that of which he availed himself, the period 
of liis retirement from office; and that he would submit it then only 
to congress, who might examine it, on its merits, impartially, with a 
view to all the circumstances connected with it, and without refer- 
ence to the individual concerned. 

The second item claims an adcUtional allowance for contingent ex- 
penses in that mission, and to which an objection is also raised. Mr. 
M. was allowed for the whole mission, only 110 dollars. It cannot 
be doubted, when the circumstances attending it are duly weighed, 
that not a single month ela^jsed, during the whole term, in which a 
larger sum was not expended. The crisis was unexampled in mod- 
ern times. The ancient despotism had been overthrown, and the 
power transferred, by a sudden compulsion, to the people, who, un- 
used to its exercise, had, with blind enthusiasm, conmiitted it to lead- 
ers who quarrelled among themselves, those of the prevailing party 
cuttincr otf the others, thereby disgrachig the revolution, and sap- 
ping the foundation on which it rested. Every port of France was 
filled with our vessels, which had been seized, many of which had 
been condemned, and otliers were under trial. His predecessor, dis- 
regarded, had retired to the country. Our fellow-citizens were with- 
out resource, .ind in the most distressed and despondent state. He 
was, for a time, distrusted, and kept at a distance, by the Committee 
of Public Safety, in whom the executive power, in regard to foreign 
nations, was vested. On due consideration he passed the Commit- 
tee, and addressed the Convention, by whom he was received on the 
next day, in the bosom of that body, in the presence, and amidst the 
acclamations, of many thousands. It was natural, after the distin- 
guished )-eception thus given him, that his suffi^ring countrymen 
should (lock to his house for relief The fact was so, as hundreds 
now livinf? can testify, and in consequence whereof his duties were 
accumulated ten fold beyond the usual amount. He states that he 



IJ) 

was forced to employ, through tlie whole of his mission, several as.- 
sistaiit secretaries, and to rent a house for them, and to incur many 
other heavy expenses, the extent of wliich can readily be conceived, 
when the character of ttie epoch is reorarded, and the state in which 
lie found our affairs on his arrival tliore. The expenses wdiich he 
incurred in reg-ard to Thomas Paine alone were consideralde. 
Would it have been proper for him to have sullered an individual, 
who had rendered such useful services in our revolution, to lan- 
guish in prison, or to want the common necessaries of life, after ob- 
taining his release? Witli Mr. Paine, Mr. M. was scarcely acquaint- 
ed. The appeal to him, therefore, was in his official charactex only. 
For these expenses he asked nothing. \Miether they ought to fall 
on him, or on the nation, others will decide. They ought, at least, 
to have weight in the decision on other claims. That no other min- 
ister of the United States was ever placed in such a situation; com- 
pelled to employ so many assistant secretaries for such a length of 
time; to rent a separate house for their accommodation, and otherwise 
exposed to such heavy contributions and expeiises, is certain. To 
allow liim, therefore, the sum only which has been allowed in other 
cases, would be manifestly unjust.. 

*The claims for the second mission consist of four items. The 
iirst is for interest on the outfit for that mission, for the term during 
wdiich it was withheld, and to interest on the amount of that sum to 
the present time. I will ask, whetlier any minister was ever sent 
from the United States under circumstances which exposed him inev- 
itably to such expenses? Whether an outfit was ever refused to 
any minister, before or since, wlio was employed in any mission? 
Other ministers, who v^^ere employed on ofiicial missions, were sent 
to a single power, witii instruction to remrn as soon as the bu- 
ness on which they were sent should be concluded. They left 
their families at home, and were absent g-enerally about a year, and 
in some instances a shorter term. For tliese missions, an outfit 
was always allowed to the ministers employed in them. Mr. M. on 
the contrary, was appointed to two powers at the same time, France 
and Spain, and informed that the state of affairs might require his 
long absence. He took his family willi him, and was absent nearly 
five years, during which he represented his country with three pow- 
ers, France and Spain, to wliich he was originally appointed, and 
likewise with Great Erit^nin, moving occasionally from the one to the 
other. Great and unusual expenses were inseparable from such a 
mission, and that the withholding the outfit nmst have increased his 
difficulties, and subjected him to corresponding losses, is equally ob- 
vious. 

It has, it is understood, been the practice of the government to ad- 
vance to our ministers, in many instances, a portion of their salary 
in addition to their outfit, on their appointment. Leaving their homes. 



See, Mr. .IcfTerfoirs Lettrr amon^ <1ie doouiiipnts to lie hereafter given. 



their aflairs, and many ot'them their professions, some aid might be ne- 
cessary, even to those in the best circumstances, to enable them to 
do so in a satisfactory manner, and without loss. A quarter's salary 
would g-enerally become due before the}'- could reach their stations. An 
advance, at least, to that amount, seems reasonable and proper, and it 
is said that, on some occasions, and on special missions to a single pow- 
er, a larger portion of the salary has been advanced, in addition to' 
the outlit. If such allowance and extra advance would be proper in 
any instance, it would certainly have been so, in that in question. 
Mr. jNI. had sustained a considerable loss by his former mission, from 
which he had not recovered, and was hurried by the pressure of cu'- 
cumstances, and by the President, to his stations abroad, for which he 
sailed, without having previously visited his own home. But the 
outfit was refused, and no portion of the salary advanced. He was 
allowed his expenses to Paris, including those of a journey from his 
home to New York, and his expenses in travelling between the pla- 
ces at which he might be required to attend — that is, between Paris 
and Madrid, and for which expenses, !|9,000 were advanced to him; 
a sum which it was presumed would be equivalent to those expenses, 
but not exceed them. With this advance, for which he was held ac- 
countable, in the manner stated, he was compelled to arrange his af- 
fairs, and hasten to New York, and then to France. 

His appointment to England was not made when he left the United 
States, nor known to him until after the treaties with France for the' 
cession of Louisiana had been concluded, and ratihed by the French 
government, and despatched by Mr. Livingston and himself to their 
own, and after he had requested of the French government a pass- 
port for Madrid,^* with intention to proceed thither, m obedience to 
his instructions, to negotiate a treaty for the cession of Florida. It 
-was at that time, Mr. King having left England, that he received liis 
appointment for London, with a discretionary power to proceed thi- 
ther or not, as circumstances might make most advisable. Experi- 
encing, at that moment, some difficulty with the French government 
respecting the proposed negotiation with cr^pain, and knowing that 
the success of the negotiation would essentially depend on the part 
the French government might take in it, whose aid had been pro- 
mised, and which he was then assured should be aifordcd on a future 
occasion, he resolved to proceed forthwith to England, and to post- 
pone his mission to Spain until tlie treaties with France should be 
received, and if approved be ratified by his government, and an order 
sent to him by it, on a thorough knowledge of all circumstances, to 
proceed to Spain. Accordingly, he proceeded to England, and the 
mission being stationary, and not a special one, an outfit was allow- 
e{i as a thing of course. It was, however, special in all the circum- 
stances connected with expense; for, expecting an order to proceed 

•See letter to Mr. Talleyrand, May 19th, 1803, among the documents. 



21 

to Spain in a few moniiis, he could make none of those arrang-ements 
whicli, as a stationary or resident minister, he might and doubtless 
would have done, to avoid it. He remained in England in that state 
fourteen months, when he received the order from his government 
to proceed to Madrid, and to take Paris in his route for the purpose 
stated, which he promptly obeyed, in the expectation of returning 
home through England, as soon as that mission should be concludet^ 
after a delay of a few weeks at London, to conclude an important 
negotiation which had been commenced and left unfinished, on his 
departure for Spain. ' 

For the sum which was advanced to Mr. M. on his appointment to 
this his second mission, he was held accountable, and he has ac- 
counted for it. As tlie advance was made on account of the expen- 
ses of his voyage and journey to Paris, and of his mission to Spain, 
and as his expenses on his arrival at Paris, where he was well known 
to all in power, would be great, the application of a large portion of 
it to his private concerns before his departure, could not fail to sub- 
ject him to serious embarrassment on his arrival at liis station. It is 
not contended that he failed either there or elsewhere, to apply the 
sums necessary to support the credit of the station, whence it must 
follow, as the salaries allowed to our ministers, especially to the 
principal powers, are altogether inadequate, being not even one 
fifth of the salaries which those powers respectively allow to their 
ministers, that he must have been straitened every where. That he 
was so at home, is apparent from the sale, if not the sacrifice of his 
property in his absence; and that he was so abroad, may fairly be 
inferred by the debts which now press on him, and which threaten to 
absorb the residue. 

When Mr. Monroe's account was settled for this his second mission, 
it appears that for the mission to France, he was allowed nothing ex- 
cept his salary; that no allowance was made to enable him to settle his 
affairs at home before his departure, nor to bear his expenses from 
home to New-York, nor for his detention there for liis instructions, 
and for his voyage and journey thence to Paris, nor for the heavy 
expenses incident to his arrival and residence in Paris during the 
negotiation, except the salary. The money which had been advanc- 
ed to him for these latter objects, was diverted from them, and 
charged to his outfit to England, with which mission he was unac- 
quainted, until all those expenses had been incurred. By the settle- 
ment in this mode, he was brousrht in debt rather more than nine 
thousand dollars. Had the settlement been made on the principle 
on which the money was advanced, making due allowance for tliose 
expenses, and for the sum paid for his passage in a vessel in which 
he did not sail, the balance, doubtless, would have been less by near- 
ly three thousand dollars, which sum, whatever it might have been, 
would have been deducted, and by which the balance would have 
*een reduced in equal amount. But, by allov.dng the outfit, in the 



settlement, and thereby changing the principle on which the money 
was advanced, that sum was excluded, and inconsequence, the ba- 
lance augmented in rciual degree. As he fell in debt at the time of 
the settlement, litfJe more than the amount of the outllt, after charg- 
ing him with every cent which he had received in his several mis- 
sions, in satisfnction of wlut h debt the outfit was then admitted, it 
follows that, if it had been adv.anced at the time of Ids appointment, 
he would have owed nothing, and would have avoided, in other re- 
spects, great embarrassment and loss. It is further to be observed, 
that if the sum expended in his journey and voyage to Paris, and the 
salary due him on his arrival there, are deducted from the amount 
advanced before he sailed, although the outfit had not been allowed, 
the accommodation afforded him by that advance would have been 
trifling. To withhold money from him, on a principle which was ad- 
mitted to be untenable and given up; by the withholding of which he 
was brought in debt to the public, and to give to such debt the cha- 
racter of an outfit, which had been disclaimed and refjsed, and on 
such assumed character, to refuse interest on the outfit for the time 
it was withheld, and interest on the amount thereof, at the time it 
was allowed, from that time till paid, would appear strange. The in- 
justice of it would be the greater, and more manifest, from the consi- 
deration that, if the proper allowance had been made when the ac- 
eount was settled for the extra expenses incident to his detention in 
England, the two years and four months after his return from Spain, 
the equity of which was then admitted, the government would have 
been considerably in his debt. 

The difference between the allowance of the outfit at the time of 
his appointment, before his departure, and at the end of his mission, 
on the settlement of his account, and for the payment of a debt, be- 
sides the mortification of i)eing placed in that state, may readily be 
conceived. Had it been allowed in the first stage, the money would 
have been his own. He would have been accountable to no one for 
the application of it, and he might have availed himself of it for his 
private engagements, as well as his public duties, according to a just 
calculation, and correct sense of the obligation in each instance. 
But, by refusing the outfit at the time of his appointment, on a princi- 
ple of economy, and making Ihe advance lor special purposes, his 
hands were tied up in tlic use of it, and it may be distinctly seen from a 
detriiled view of the accoimt, as settled on his return, as well as by 
the effect produced on his property at home, that a small sum of the 
money advanced fo him on his appointment, was npplied to his pri- 
vate purposes. Although his expenses to P;iris, and at Paris on his 
arrival, and in the negotiation, had l)een considerable, yet it appears, 
from a view of the account, when he received his appointment to 
Encrland, that the public wev^^ indebted to him a portion of his salary, 
or rather, tliat he had not drawn for it on the bankers, from whom 
he was authorised to receive it- '^ appears also, that, at the end of 



^3 

the year, while in England, although no allowance was made to him 
in the settlement, oil the principle on which the money had been ad- 
vanced before he sailed, and that advance was charged against him 
on a new principle, and applied to his outfit to England, that they 
were still indebted to him. It was by his long detention in England, 
before he received his order to proceed to Spain, and his detention 
there after his return from Spain, mider the circumstances heretofore 
stated, that his expenses and debts accumulated to such an amount 
that the interest on the outfit and the amount of liis other claims, if al- 
lowed, however liberally viewed, will fall far short of the demands 
against him, and for which he must pay, by the sale of Ms private pro- 
perty. Mr. Monroe never owed to his country one cent. On the con- 
trary, his country has been indebted to him by the rules applicable to 
others, from his first mission to France, of 1794, to the present time, 
and no trifling sum, especially if the amount is estimated by the effect 
produced on his private property.* 

To how many of the public servants, paymasters, quartermasters 
and others, does the government advance money, to enable them 
to satisfy the just claims of others, which they retain in their 
hands, in part, for years, and without demanding from them in- 
terest for it, or making any deduction from their just claims, on the 
gettlement of their accounts, for such advances? When the nature 
of the trust which was committed to this individual, and more espe- 
cially its importance, are considered, of which a just idea may be 
formed by a perusal of the letter of Mr. Jefferson, then President, who 
kindjy permitted it to be comnmnicated to the Committee, does it not 
appear that the motive was peculiarly urgent for making a very libe- 
ral advance to him? And if the advance made was from motives of 
economy, whioh are always commendable, especially in a republic, 
more limited than had ever been made to any other minister, in times' 
and under circumstances, in all respects more favourable, can any just 
cause be assigned, why the injury resulting from it, so far, at least, as 
to place him on a footing with others, v/ith the common allowance of 
interest on the sum withheld, should not be repaired? It should be 
recollected that this appointment had not been sought nor expected, 
that he was taken from the bar, to which he had just returned, and 
with a fair prospect of success, after having served his native state, 
the constitutional term of three years, in the office of chief magistrate, 
and under circumstances of great difficulty, arising from his former 
mission. 

On the second item of this the second mission, the claim being for 
money paid for a passage, engaged in a vesseldn which he did not 
sail, no comment need be made; nor need there be any on the third, 



*See Colonel Lewis's leUer among the documents. 1 met him by accident on a late 
visit to Albemarle, and requested him to state the --.mount of the money, which I advanced 
to him on my departure from the United States, on ; .y last mission, the sum which would 
have prevented the sale of my property in my absence, the price received for it, and the 
present prices, which he has done. 



24 

■which relates to the contin£^ent expenses of that mission. He claims 
only, in the latter instance, a correspondincr allowance with that which 
YV^as made to Mr. King, under circumstances more favourable to ecou- 
omy, Mr. King having been there a large portion of his time in peacj; 
whereas, during the whole term of Mr. Monroe's service, war prevail- 
ed. It is known that a state of peace is more favourable to economy 
than a state of war, in all contingent expenses, and indeed in every 
other, and especially in the article of postage, which is very heavy in 
England. The full allowance made to Mr. King, is, therefore, deem- 
ed only a fair one to Mr. Monroe. 

The fourth and last item is for extraordinary expenses incurred by 
his detention in England, after his return from Spain, two years and 
four months, by which, having the permission of the President to 
return home, and bemg prepared to do it, from montii to month, he 
was exposed to the greatest degree of expense that any mission could 
be subjected to. The causes of detention, as enumerated by him, and 
known to the Union, were such as would have made it highly ii/s- 
proper for him to have sailed sooner than he did, had he had a ve- 
sel engaged and waiting for him at the port the whole time. The sei- 
zure of our vessels, by an order founded on the principle of that oj' 
November, 1793, ond against which he remonstrated, in the most deci- 
sive terms was one. A negotiation ensued, which he could not aban- 
don. The special mission, on the result of which the peace of the Union 
hung, was another. The attack on the Chesapeake, to which his 
attention was drawn by his government, and which involved coiise- 
quences not less serious, was a third. Had he withdrawn at such a 
crisis, neglectnig these high concerns of his country, be the expense 
attending his detention what it might, he would have incurred and meri- 
ted the censure of his fellow-citizens, throughout the Union. Shall 
these extra expenses fall on him, or be defrayed by the public? The fact 
is they have fallen on him, and are among the causes of a like kind, 
which have subjected hini to debts and losses, for which the repara- 
tion claimed cannot indemnify him. This claim was presented in 1810, 
when his account was settled, and, as is stated, the equity being ad- 
mitted, was suspended, by the order of the President, for further con- 
sideration, and has never been acted on since. Mr. Monroe was soon 
afterwards called into the department of state, in which he had offi- 
cial cognizance of the subject. From that office he was elected Pres- 
ident, by which event his power over it was augmented. It requires 
no argument to prove, that during the whole time of liis s jrvice in 
these offices, he could not touch the subject. We see, on the conti'a- 
ry, by the documents reported, that he would decide on no claim 
which involved the same principle with his own. 

Such are the claims of Mr. Monroe, and the ground on which they 
rest; and it is not perceived on what sound principle they, or either of 
them, can be rejected, with the interest on each, from the time that it 
became due till paid. If injustice was done to him, by withholding the 



2b 



money to which he was entitled, in any instance, no good cause can 
be assigned, lor refusing to render justice to him at this tim-e. Was 
any allowance made to him, in other instances, in his missions, or was 
more expended by him, in any branch of his services, than was ex- 
pended, in a like service, by others? Nothing of the kind can be al- 
leged with truth. No accommodation v/as afforded to him, in any in- 
stance, which was not afforded to every other minister, and the utmost 
economy v/as practised by him throughout his several missions, which 
was practicable. He claims only to be put on a footing with others, 
under circumstances which exposed him to greater expenses than tiiey, 
and in the instances in which a difference was made to his prejudice, 
simply by the paynient of the money, wliich, on that principle, was due, 
with interest on it from the time it became due till paid. He does not 
ask an indenmity for losses, sustained by the withholding the money 
from him in the way of damages, however just the claim might be. 
What that would amount to has not been stated, but it may be shown 
that it would be great. Nor has he asked compound hitercst, v/hich 
he has he-en compelled to pay himself. 

As to the period at which the iiiterer-t should commence on well 
founded claims, that seems to be too obvious, and is too well estab- 
lished in transactions betv\reen individuals in private life, to admit a 
doubt. When did the money become duo, if due at all? Where v/as he 
at the time, and on what accomit did it become due? Each item speaks- 
for itself. Those of the first mission became due for the conting-en- 
cies, annually, and for his detention in France during the Avinter, when 
he could not leave the country, at the time he sailed, which was on 
the 20th of April, 1797. Those of the second mission, on. the outfit 
withheld, from the time of his appointm.ent till paid or allowed. On 
the payment of Mr. Hicks, for the passage engaged for him and his 
family in a vessel in which they did not sail, from the date of the pay- 
ment made to him. For the contingencies in England, and expenses 
incai'red by his detention after his return from Spain, annually for the 
one, and on the termination of his mission in the other; though I am 
inclined to think that it should be annually in both. At those periods, 
the money claimed was expended by him, and much more, and, not 
having the funds himself, was borrowed, and is still due, on which he 
has paid an interest, simple and compound, for a great part of the sum, 
through the whole intervening space. To fix the commencement of 
the interest allowed to liitn to later periods, would not be to render to 
him justice, especially after so long a delay. He was in Fi'ance, or 
England, when the money was expended, and he could not meet the 
expenses, nor get home, without borrowing it, nor borrow without 
paying the interest on it. 

Such claims should not be settled by the ordinary rules which ap- 
ply to transactions at home, because the situation of the party is dif- 
ferent, and in circumstances of peculiar interest to the country as well 
as to the individual. The character of our republic, which is looked 
.4 



26 

5it with jealousy, by the monarchs of Europe, is connected, not only 
whh (he olucial conduct of the miiiister, but with every incident attend- 
ing him while there. For the errors, and even the vices, of the min- 
ist'ers of each other, liberal p.llowances are made, but no such mdul- 
gence is shown to us. He nmst support the rank of the station while 
at Uieir respective courts, and until his retirement from their coun- 
tries, or his nation will be degraded. HimpUcity at home, even 
among the most wealthy of our citizens, is commendable. The spir- 
it of our government requires it. But in our intercourse with ibreign 
powers, in tlie grade in question, some accommodation with the usa- 
ges of each, in" then' respective countries, is necessary. To dejart 
Irom it is deemed a contempt, and cannot fail to be productive of in- 
jury. The burden of these charges fell with great force on Mr. Mon- 
roe in his last mission. A muiister to a single power may, after esi- 
tabhshing himself, retu^c from society if he ciiooses, and, supporting 
a decent appearance v/hen forced into it, may sustain his credit. But 
one who h minister at the same time to three of the principal pow.^rs 
of Euroj5e, and who moves from one to the other, is always in me 
circle of tiiose who compose the court of each, and exposed, in con- 
sequence, and by necessity, to the greatest expense possible. 

The act of limitation has been ursred as an objection to these 
claims, but can it be plead against a person who has been almost 
the whole of his time in the service of his country, and a large por- 
tion of it, when not abroad, in stations which rendered it impossible 
for him to touch the subject? Can the act of limitation ever be plead 
by the government in its own favour, to justify a refusal to repair an 
injury done by itself, especially to an individual who has refrained, 
from delicacy and a regard to principle only, to press his claims? 
Could he have refused to obey the voice of his country, in any in- 
stance, when called on, and have assigned as a reason, that money 
was due to him for former services, and until that was paid he would 
render none other? Was it not ratlier his duty to obey the call; and 
is it not fair to presume th.nt he would have obeyed it, in the difficult 
conjunctures in which he has served, be the effect on his claims what 
it might? Did not such call wave any plea of this kind, even had it 
been well founded? 

To enumerate the large amount of salaries which Ah\ Monroe ha.s- 
received, in the important offices which he has held, is only to show 
the great length of time which he has served. Were the salaries in- 
tended for the profit of the individual, or to support the credit of the 
office? If the latter, to retire from ullice under the pressure of heavy 
debts, is a proof that he was not unmindful oi what Jie owed his 
cotmtry. 'J'hat he held more offices than many others, is owing to 
the generous confidence of his fellow citizens; for it is certain that he 
has been called to those of higli importance, in his absence and 
without his knowledge, of which several examples might be given, ij 
It were necessary to enter into the subject in that view. One ho no- 



27 

'Haed. m the observations which he presented to the committee at th^ 
last session, because he deemed it material to his claim. Beyond 
that he did not go. To have devoted his services to his country, al- 
most the whole of bis life, from very early youth in the hig-hest of- 
fices, and at the most dangerous epochs, unprofitable to himself, is all 
that could be expected of any citizen. To have his private property, 
which he held before he entered into those offices, swept from him, 
at the expiration of his service, for the payment of debts contracted, 
under the circumstances stated, is an injury to which no citizcji ought 
to be subjected. 

In Mr. Monroe's first mission to France, some incidents occurred 
which could not fail to prove a cause of serious affliction to him, and 
to which it may not be improper to advert here, hi consideration of 
the divisions which prevailed among us, at that very iuieresting 
epoch, and the part he had acted in them, he accepted a trust which 
exposed him, in tlic discharge of its duties, to the jealousy and suspi- 
cion of those with whom he had dilfered in political sentiment; while, 
on the other hand, he was bound, as weU by self respect as a regard 
to principle, to maintain the character which he had held before he 
accepted it. He had the most unbounded confidence in the integrity 
and patriotism of the President, as he likewise had in his desire to 
admhiister the government on its principles, and to give it a fair ex- 
periment. He had equal confidence in his attachment to those prin- 
ciples, and in his desire that it might succeed. A stroke from him, there- 
fore, could not fail to be deeply felt. He nevertheless made, in mo- 
ments of calm reflection, a just allowance for the difficulty ot the sit- 
uation in which he had been placed, by the course of events, and 
cherished for him, especially after the report made to him by Dr. Ed- 
wards, founded on a conference with the President, that his honour 
and integrity had not been suspected, the same feelings and profound 
respect which he had formed for him when a youth, and a subaltern 
under him, in our revolutionary contest. Mr. M. was soon after- 
Wards called to the government of his own State, and it was his inten- 
tion, as his motive could not then have been suspected, to have made 
advances to him, but was shocked, as he entered Richmond, by the 
melancholy account of his death. 

That Mr. M. did full justice to his country, and to the principles 
and character of the President, seems to be admitted. If any doubt 
remained of it, it must, it is presumed, be removed by the docun\ents 
now furnished and which, although he has long possessed them, 
were never used before. 

In connexion with this interesting portion of his service, and period 
of his life, it seems proi>€r to notice another incident, the nature of 
which was much misrepresented at the time. After the distinguished 
reception which was given to him, by the National Convention, in 
the hall of that assemblj^, the Committee of Public Safety offered to 
him a house for his accommodation, trs the Minister t^f the United 



^8 

States, in any part of Paris which he would designate. They sent to 
liini, at the slime time a carriage and liorses, which were appropria- 
ted to his use. The liouse he promptly declined, on the principle that 
the acceptance of it was forbidden by an article of our Constitution. 
The carriage and horses he retained a few weeks, and then returned 
them, with a request that lie might be permitted to pay lor their use, 
in the same manner as if they had been furnished by an individual, 
and that permission might also be granted to him to purchase other 
horses, which, under the existing laws of France, was then necessa- 
^,ry. Both requests were granted, as the original documents, presented 
to the comimittee, will shew. Shortly after this, a house was oftered 
to hrni by an individual for sale, and which, on the best advice he 
could obtain there, ut the time, of his fellow citizens and others, he 
purchased; declaring puljlicly that he bought it for his use as Minister 
of the United States, and with intention to otTer it to his government, 
when he should retire, on- the same conditions that he had bought it- 
Having refused the house that had been oilered to him, and request- 
ed permission to pay, and having paid, for the use of the horses which 
had been sent to liim, he was fearful that the temper which had been 
manifested on Ms arrival nvight be revived, and have an ill effect, 
which he indulged a hope that this step would prevent. He resided 
in that house until the termination of his mission; at which time, be- 
ing recalled, and his successor, for whom he had a high respect, not 
being received, the existing relations between his government and 
himself, and between the two comitries, rendered such offer altogeth- 
er improper. 

Thus circumstanced, he sold the house for somewhat more than 
he gave for it, including the expenses of repair, of which sum half 
the amount stipulated only was paid, a claim bemg set up under a 
lien on the property, or a part of it, as was beUeved, fraudulently, to 
extort money from him, knowing that he must leave the coun- 
try, whereby the payment of the balance was thus prevented. To 
enable him to leave \he country, as soon as he could procure a pas- 
saire home, he borrowed the amount of a fellow citizen, a iriend, giving 
him a power to receive the balance when paid, if ever, with a mort- 
gage on a tract of land in Clay county, Kentucky, of 20,000 acres^ 
and a power to sell it, if necessary, whenever that necessity should 
arrive. In that state the affair has smce rested, the importance of 
the concerns committed to him, in his next mission, and theu* pres- 
sure m different countries not allowing him time to look into it. The 
land, however, has remained since that period appropriated to that 
object, and no hope is now entertained that it will ever be relieved 
from it. 

By this view it will appear that Mr. M. has not only derived no emol- 
unmet from his public oflices, but has suffered much by them; while 
it is presumed that it will be equally manifest, however great his 
suffering has been, that he has not been diverted from his public du- 
ties by considerations of a private nature. 



29 

To occurences of more recent date some attention is now due, nol 
with a view to pecuniary indemnity, but to an object of intiriitely 
higher importance, in the estimation through Ufe, that of his charac- 
ter, which it is known has been assailed in some of these occurrences. 
During- the last fourteen years, he has held offices in the Federal City, 
and has resided there in the departments of state and war, and in the 
office of chief magistrate. He will touch on those points only on which 
attacks have been made, and for the sole purpose of explanation and 
vindication, not to boast of services, nor of the manner in which they 
were rendered: for those are points which are left to the important 
judgment of his fellow citizens, and of posterity. On his conduct in the 
department of state, no attack has been made, and of course no de- 
fence of it is necessary. To the department of war he was called 
twice, the first on the resignation of Mr. Eustis, when he held it about 
six weeks. The second, on the resignation of General Armstrong; 
from whicli time he held it to the end of the war. He came into it, 
ill the latter instance, after the fall of Washington, and not before it, 
and not at his own instance, or by his desire, but at that of the Presi- 
dent, who was well acquainted with his conduct in what related 
to the military occurrences of that epoch, and likev/ise at the instance 
of his fellow citizens of the surrounding country, who earnestly wish« 
ed and pressed it. With his exertions to save the city and country, 
after the enemy landed at Benedict, the whole of the District, and it may 
be said of the neighbouring connnunity, were acquainted. He act- 
ed as a vohmteer, without authority, but he rendered all the service 
that he could render as a citizen. The facts relating- to that occur- 
rence have been often misrepresented, and the misrepresentation be- 
ing generally known, has, on that account, been disregarded. But 
it is due to the cause of truth, and to the character of the then Presi- 
dent, as well as to that of Mr. M. and others, that a faithful digest of 
them be made, and be preserved. There is not one important fact 
connected with that event, from the landing of the enemy at Benedict, 
to his entrance into the city, which cannot be proved iDy some hun- 
dreds, if not thousands of citizens, who were spectators thereof, and 
it is important that the digest be now made and proved, the parties 
being now living, that it may be handed down to posterity in its 
true character. 

After this distressing and mortifying event occurred, Mr. M. was 
invited by the President into the Department of War, and he accept- 
ed it, resigning his office as Secretary of the Department of State. 
whose duties he had discharged to the satisfaction of the President, 
and of the country, and in wiiich he risked nothing, and accepted one 
which subjected him to the highest degree of responsibility that it watJ 
possible for him to be exposed to. The Department of State wap 
then offered to Governor Tomkins, who declined it, on a belief that 
his services would be more useful to his country, in the office which 
he then lield as Governor of the State of New York. Coi. M. wa> 



ia consequence charged by the President, under a law which authui' 
ized him to make temporary appointments, with the Department oi 
State also. Is there any point in his conduct, in the Department ol 
War, on which an attack can be made and supported? Such attack 
is invited, as it has been, and is now repeated, on his whole conduct 
in all the offices which he has held through life. If made, let the 
Generals now liviiiG:, who commanded at the difterent sections of our 
Union which were invaded by powerful armies of the enemy, be ap- 
pealed to, and asked, if any thing was neglected on his part, neces- 
sary to give etiect to their splendid operations? With their answers' 
lie will be satisfied. 

At the expiration of the term of his illustrious and virtuous predc' 
cessor, he was elected to the office of Chief Magistrate, which he 
held eight years, and, on his conduct in that office, some attacks have 
been made, of which notice will likewise now be taken. 

He was denounced for the inspection which he made of our mari- 
time and inland frontiers, to enable him to decide, with greater com- 
petency, on the reports which might be made to him by the ik)ard 
which had been instituted by the government, as to the positions at 
which our fortifications should be erected for military and naval pur- 
poses. Nothing was more natural, after his election, than that he 
s^hould make that inspection; having had experience in our rcvolu-^ 
tionary war; having seen works of the kind in Europe; and having also 
had experience in the late war. It could not fail to draw the atten- 
tion of the nation forcibly to the object, nor could it fail to give nn 
useful stinmlus to the officers who were engaged in those works. 
For such an inspection our General Officers, who make it annually 
over their respective districts, are rewarded; and it cannot be doubt- 
ed, regarding the epoch and the object, that it was equally necessary. 
and the duty of the Chief Magistrate, then to make it. 

In his missions abroad, in which he saw that we were incessantly 
menaced with war by some of the principal powers in Europe, his 
attention had been drawn to the defenceless condition of our coast 
with deep interest, and it may be recollected that, in signing the 
treaty with England, he considered that treaty as the alternative to 
war, and that the defenceless condition of the coast was among his 
strong motives for signing it.* War afterwards ensued with that 
power, and the waste and desolation of the coast, the loss of the, 
lives of our citizens by exposures and otherwise, were fresh in liis 
memory. It cannot be doubted, if our coast had been well Ibrtifi- 
ed before the war cojnmcnced, that these calamities would have 
been greatly diminished, and, in the expenses attending it, thirty or 
tbrty niillions of dollars, at least, would have been saved. No blame 
is attached to any one, that these fortihcalions had not been erected 



* See his letter to the Secrr'nry of State, RicKmonil, Fcbraary 28, 1809— State Papers, 
vol. Cth. page 42t^. 



31 

before. They bad been recommended by all his predecessors, but 
their recommendations, except those of his immediate predecessor, 
under whom the system was commenced with new vigom', were not 
aided by the admonitions derived from the late war. It was to gain 
the knowledge necessary to enable him to discharge with propriety 
his own duties, and to give anew stimulus to these important objects, 
that he made that inspection. Itwill be recollected, that he made it at 
his own expense, and that, in so doing, he availed himself of the only 
resource then at his command, by applying it to an useful and neces- 
sary purpose of the government, and at a fair equivalent, leaving the 
transaction under the control of Congress, as it still is; and that, for 
so doing, the most mortifying abuse has been bestowed on him, and, 
it may be added, considering the source from whence it came, and 
the manner of the proceeding, no sUght degree of persecution. 

It is proper to observe that, while acting in the Department of War, 
and especially in the interval between the resignation of Mr. Camp- 
bell and the acceptance and establishment of Mr. Dallas in the De- 
partment of the Treasury, he had a great agency, as stated, in the 
observations which he presented to the committee at the last session, 
in obtaining loans of money, and in the application thereof, in the 
course of the war, to the support of our mihtary operations. By re- 
ference to the documents in the Department of War, it will be found, 
that that agency, which was carried in many instances to actual loans, 
amounted to several millions of dollars, and for which service, al- 
though his duties, already great, were to an oppressive degree aug- 
mented by it, he never asked one cent. It is a service, however, 
which forces itself to his recollection at this time, and which, in hie 
opinion, ought not to be lost sight of in the consideration of claims 
which he ^eems just, when resting on their separate and intrinsic 
merits.* 



""^ee Mr. Ringgold's Deposition — printed in last rcpoi't <3f the Committee. 



ILLUSTRATING AND SUPPORTING 
VISW^S UltGSSD BIT MH. MOZVnOEl, 

IN HIS MEMOIR AND RB^IARKS. 

*TITH SUCH PRELIMINARY AND EXPLANATORF NOTES AS ARE NECESSARY 
TO THEIR PROPER UNDERSTANDIPJG. 

DOCUMENTS 

1LEZ<ATIK& TO MR. MONROE'S FIRST XSISSldlT TO FRANCS. 

[Mr. Skipwitii accompanied Mr. Monroe to France in this mission, 
as Secretary. Tlie state of our commerce there, on Mr. Monroe's ar- 
rival, and the pressure on him requiring the aid of a consul, and one 
with whom he was acquainted, and in whose rectitude and decision 
he could confide, he appointed Mr. Skipwith provisionally, to that 
office, and in which he was confirmed by the President. Mr. M. made 
this appointiiient with the greater confidence, because he had taken 
him as Secretary, on the suggestion of Mr. Randolph, the Secretary 
of State, that it would be gratifying to the President if he did so. — 
With others whom Mr. M. then employed as assistant Secretaries,, 
was M. Gouvain, the author of the following document, who spoke 
both languages very correctly. Mr. M. took him on the recommen- 
dation of many of our respectable citizens, who were connected in 
commerce with his family, a very respectable one at Havre. He 
remained with Mr. M. nearly two years, attended him in many inter- 
views with the French government, and t^e members individually who 
composed it, and was very useful.] 



MR. GOUVAIN'S LETTER. 

I owe it to my own conscience to show the great injustice which 
has been done to Mr. Monroe, by the imputations which have 
been raised against his conduct gfid intentions, during his mission to 
\he French Republic. 



5 



34 

From the time of my appointment as Mr. M.'s Secretary to the epoch 
at which my domestic ailairs compelled me to relinquish the oiiice 
of riecretarv, which 1 held near this Minister, I had it in my power to 
follow all his measures with the greatest accuracy, because i lived 
€■ iistantly with him, and assisted as interpreter in all the conteren- 
ces which took place between him and the French government, and 
translated not only the ofiicial but private notes, which he presented 
to that g-overnment, and likewise all those which he received, with- 
out exception. 

To confound tiie calumniators of Mr. Monroe, as Minister ot the 
United States to the French Republic, it will be sufficient to go back 
to the epoch of his arrival in France, and to retrace the actual state 
of the political relations which then existed between the two govern- 
ments. The French government was never nearer a rupture with 
the United States, than it then was. A considerable number of Amer- 
ican vessels had then been seized by French privateers, and carried 
mto their ports; many cargoes had been condemned, and many crews 
imprisoned, in fine, the treaty of 1778, with the United States of 
America, had been broken in such a manner by the French, that it 
might be considered as annulled. 

Such was the state of afluirs when Mr. Monroe arrived in France, 
and nothina- less than the unwearied zeal, and great prudence which 
he displayed in these circumstances, could have succeeded to obtain 
the reparation of the infractions made by the French, of the treaty of 
1778. Not only did he succeed in obtaining of the French govern- 
ment an jndeimiity to the American merchants and captains, for the 
detention of their vessels, crews, &c. &c. but by the firmness which 
he shewed, and the consideration which he observed towards the 
committees of the government, he finished, by restoring to its full vi- 
gor, and in full extent, the treaty of friendship and commerce of 1778; 
a treaty which, as is well known, could not be more advantageous 
to the enemies of France, as one of its articles stipulated, that the 
propei'ty acknowledged to belong to an enemy, found on board an 
American vessel, should be respected in the same manner, as if it be- 
longed to American citizens. This act was the more generous on 
the na"t of the French government, from the consideration that at 
this'^^epoch, the English did not hesitate to seize almost every Amer- 
ican vessel on the slightest suspicion that they were charged on 
French account, as was seen, especially in the trade with tlie West 
Indies. 

To give a just idea of the difficulties which Mr. Monroe had to sur- 
mount, to obtain an object so desiiable for the prosperity of the Uni- 
ted' States, that of restoring the confidence and friendship which had 
before existed between the two governments, it is essential to state 
the personal dispositions of the members of the Convention, who 
composed then the diplomatic section of the French government. How 
many scenes have 1 not witnessed, in which Mr. Mouroe ha^s been 



85 

forced to hear the most cutting sarcasms against his government and 
its members! With what warmth has lie not defeaded them, and 
wliai means has he not employed to calm their spirits! Threiliard, 
Thuriott, and Merlin de Douay, composed then the diplomatic sec- 
tion of the Committee of Pubiic Safety. One cited advice received 
from America, from the French agents, who complained bitterly of 
the injustice which they said was committed daily againstthe French, 
by the administrative departments, and as they concluded in accord 
with the spirit of llicir government, Avho protected, to the utmost of 
their ability, the English party, to the prejudice of the French. Others 
reproached, openly, the Americans, of indiflerence for France ui a 
war, in which they seemed to insinuate, that the United States ought 
to lend them assistance, and especially by loans of money. At length 
ihey charged the Americans with the blackest ingratitude towards 
France, for the important services rendered in the conquest of their 
independence, which they said could not have been obtained without 
the aid which France had given them. 

in one of the conferences, that which mortified Mr. Monroe be- 
yond all expression, was the opinion which they declared respecting 
the President, General Washington. They painted him as a man in- 
toxicated with ambition, and v/ho would finish by usurping soon all 
the powers with which he was invested. They reproached tnis 
President, more especially, with having shewn a marked partiality 
for the declared enemies of France; with having received wirh zeal 
into his house French emigrants; and they declared how much they 
were disgusted by his preservation in his apartments with the great- 
est care, the portrait of Lewis XVI. 

It was then that Mr. Monroe raised himself with the greatest 
firmness, with v/hich he was hispired by his esteem for a man whose 
virtue and patriotism had, till then, commanded the admu'at'on of the 
whole world, and for whom he had personally the greatest venera- 
tion. He called to mind the services which General Washington had 
rendered to liberty; the sacrifices which he had made in that cause, 
and, above all, the acknowledged morality of his principles. He used 
arguments the most persuasive, 'to convince the Committee of the 
friendly disposition of the President for France, and of the sincerity 
of the declarations which he had made in Ms name, at the time of his 
admission into the bosom of the National Convention. 

Animated with an unceasing desire to serve his country, and to 
preserve to it peace, Mr. Monroe was not restrained by any of these 
obstacles, but continued with the greatest courage to press the Com- 
mittee to accede to his just reclamations. Each day he gained 
ground, and soon conciliated the esteem and personal friendship of 
the memhers of the committee. He did not fail to turn this happy 
incident to the advantage of his mission, and availing himself often of 
personal conferences, at one time with one of the members of the 
fij^iraitteo, and at anotiier with others, in spite of tiie repugnance 



3G 

'which these last shewed, hi consequence of tlic dillerence which ex- 
isted in the poUtical views between liini and them, he forced them in 
some measure to hear him, and to change their opinion in favour oi 
the United States. He often spoke to them of the perfect union which 
ought to exist between the two nations, and of the mutual advantage 
which would result from it to both, in a political as well as in a com- 
mercial point of view. 

It was by occupying himself, without ceasing, that he succeeded so 
happily in disposing the Committee of PubUc Safety to favour the- 
American goverimient, and his difficulties were the greater from the 
consideration, that the fnembers of the committee being changed ev- 
ery three months, he was obliged to renew his etibrts with the new 
members upon every change. The diplomatic section of the com- 
mittee was composed alternately of Seyes, Reubell, Thuriot, Merlin 
De Douay, and others, little disposed, as I must admit, in favouf of the 
Americans, 

It is proper to observe, that, at this epoch, the innumerable victo- 
ries that were gained by the armies of France, over their powerful 
enemies, astonished the universe, and that the political situation of 
France left no doubt of the complete establishment of the republican 
system in that country. Holland, Spain, and the greater part of the 
dominions of the Emperor, were ready to fall into the hands of this 
growing republic, and all foreboded the influence which it would ob- 
tain, in the political balance. Mr. Monroe had then to treat with 
conquerors, who, proud of their success, adopted in their expressions 
and conduct, a fierceness wliich it is difficult to express. The nego- 
tiation, in consequence, was difficult for Mr. Monroe, who preserved 
always on his side, the dignity which became the representative of a 
great people. Nevertheless, the more brilliant the successes of France 
were, the more tliis Minister felt the necessity of conciliating their 
friendship and good offices. 

All these difficulties were now removed, and Mr. Monroe began to 
enjoy, in peace, the fruits of his labours, when a question arose re- 
specting the treaty of Mr. Jay, with the cabinet of London. This in- 
telligence revived immediately the jealousy of the French govern- 
ment, who, without knowing the contents of the treaty, considered 
the act alone as an outrage to France. The Committee of PubUc 
Safety expressed loudly its surprise to Mr. Monroe: who, onhia side, 
not knowing the contents of the treaty, was obliged to confine himself 
for along time, in assuring the members of the committee, that it was 
altogether improbable that the American government had committed 
Miy act which could alter the friendship which existed between 
France and the United States. But by the reasons which lie uri^ed 
to calm their spirits, it was impossible for liim to succeed, and the 
members of the committee on this occasion, pushed their remarks to 
Ihe point of manifcstmg their distrust of Mr. Monroe himself, Thev 



37 

appeared to be convinced tliat he knew the contents of the treatj'-, 
and had orders to conceal them. 

It was about this period that I quitted Mr. Monroe, and I recollect 
that in the last conference at which I assisted, the members of the 
committee received the minister very coldly, and that the ans\^er 
which they gave this time to his observations, was short and dry. It 
was Reubell who spoke, and he expressed himself to the foUowino- ef- 
fect: "It will be useless (said he) citizen minister, for you to give 
yourself further trouble to persuade us, that the treaty made by Mr. 
Jay is not repugnant to the interest of France. We know perfectly 
on whom we ought to rely, respecting the disposition of the American 
government in regard to us, and you may abstain from entertaining 
us in future on the subject of that treaty. The only part which we 
have to act in this circumstance, is to be patient and not to be tor- 
getful." 

From this epoch, the coolness of the French government for the 
Americans augmented; and it is evident that the recall of Mr. Monroe, 
far from conciliating it and removing difficulties, had the eifect only 
of puttinij the two governments at a greater distance from each othei\ 
to the injury of both nations, and of their conmierce. 

Such are the facts of which I have knowledge, and to the truth of 
which I can bear witness. There remains nothing for me to add; for 
I think that I have said enough to serve as an answer to the malevo- 
lent, who have persisted to blame the conduct and intentions of 
Mr. Monroe during his mission to the French government. I have 
thought it my duty to make this declaration, and I desire, with all my 
heart, that it may contribute to make knovv'-n to the Americans in gen- 
eral, the great injustice that has been done to Mr. Monroe, by the im- 
putations raised against him, and the depth of the malignity of his 
enemies. 

M. A. GOUVAIN. 
Paris, 2d of April, 1797. 



[After the intercourse of Mr. Monroe with the French government 
was suspended, he requested of Major Mountflorence, who had oc- 
casion to pass through the different offices of the government daily, to 
collect what information ne could of the views of the government to- 
wards the United States, and to report the same to him, Avhjch hv 
did.] 



LETTERS OF MAJOR MOUNTFLORENCE. 

Sir: I proposed doing myself tlie honour of waiting on yon tliis 
morning in order to communicate what I have been able to collecr 
respecting the forwarding of the orders to America, whereof vou 
have been informed,, but am prevented so doing by a very sorp, foot. 



38- 

Early this morning I was at the office, and fin "i that the packet i-v 
made up, and remains ia statu quo. Positive orders to fix its depar- 
ture are not yet g-iven, but the former ones are not rescinded. The> 
propose to inform you officially of theh" purport only eight days after 
tliey shall be sent offi I shall be on the watch to r-Mther any otiier 
inlbrmation on that matter which I may be able to attain; but I hope 
that, wliilst there is time for a reconsideration, that the measure may 
be laid aside, or other incidents may turn up, and reflections in the 
meanwhile may occur to the promoters of tliis plan which may in- 
duce them to think better of it. 

With great respect, I liave the honour to be, sir, yours, &c. 

J. C. MOUNTFLORENCK 

9th Fmciidor, {Auir, 2eth)—4lh year. 



Tuesday, 30th Auuusi 

Sir: 1 saw a person last evening, who assured me he believed the- 
despatches were gone. They are sent to America by an aviso, arm- 
ed for that purpose, which has been ready for sea for so-nc time past 
The government pretends, that through you only they have been de- 
layed^ for near eight months, taking their measures, which they say 
are consistent with the dignity of tlieir nation, and to the general plan 
rhey have adopted. They do not censure you for it; on the conti ary, 
allow that you have well served your government, &c. &c. k.c. it 
.seems to me that their determination is fixed, and nothing more is to 
be done than wait for events, which may induce them to adopt an- 
other system less prejudicial to the connexion between our two 
♦rontries. 

I have the honour to be, &c. 

J. C. MOUNTFLORENCE 



9th Vendemiare, 5th Year. 

rtiR: 1 have seen General Clarke's commission. It is signed by the 
iVIinister Gennet, at Philadelphia, 12th July, 1793, and, therefore, 
posterior to the President's proclamation. 

By this day's mail I have wrote to Mr. Le Ray, that it would be., 
best for him to take passports from the government of Berne, duly le- 
galized by Citizen Berthelemy, the French minister in Switzerland. 

The person I had the honour to speak to you about yesterday, inti- 
mates an apprehension that they have it in contemplation to notify t<? 



39 

■you officially, that, having recalled their minister near the United. 
States, they could no longer communicate officially with you. T 
hope, and I beheve, that this apprehension is entirely groundless; as, 
in fact, if such an event was to take place, it would indicate a full 
determination to push matters to extremities, which I suppose it is 
the interest of both countries to avoid. 

I have the honour to be, &c. 

J. C. MOUNTFLORENCE. 



Extract of a letter from Dr. E. Edward,^ to Mr. Monroe 

Frankford, April 20, 1798. 

Deax Sir: Of what related to your conduct about Mr. Paine's writ- 
ing agriiiist General Washington, I mentioned to him since my return^ 
He thanked me for the information, and added, that, as to Mr. Mon- 
roe, he beheved him to be a man of hoiiour, and always thought so. 

Note. — Dr. Edwards travelled attliis period, through great part of 
E,;^;iand, and carried with him letters from General Washington to 
some of his correspondents, and particularly to Arthur Young. 
Soon after the arrival of Mr. Monroe in France, he came over and 
stidd most of his time in Paris near liim, until late in 1796; when he 
returned home. He had acted as a volunteer in the campaign of 1777 
after the enemy took possession of Philadelphia, and was, with Mi*. 
Monroe, an aid in the family of Lord Stirling, particularly in the bat- 
tle of Braiidywine. His letter extends to many other instances in 
which Mr. M. was then traduced, of which it is now deemed unne- 
cessary to take notice, and therefore, this extract alone is published. 



The Commissary of Foreign Affairs to the Minister Plenipoientiary of the 

United States of Jlmerica. 

Paris, 4th Tructicier, 2d year of the Republic. 

Citizen: After having received the representatives of our ally 
with the most distinguished marks of affection, the government of 
the republic desires to do every thing which depends°on it, to malce 
his residence in France agreeable to liim. With this view the Commit- 
tee of Public Safety authorizes me to offer you, in the name of the 
republic, a national house for your accommodation. I pray you 
therefore, to make knovm to me your intentions in this respect, as 
likewise to designate the quarter whicii will be most agreeable to you 



i6 

The J^Iinislcr Plenipolcntianj of the United Slates of Jhrnrica^ to the Conit 
missarij of Foreign Relations for the Ficnch Republic. 

Paris, August 22, 1794. 

Citizen: I was favoured yesterday with yours of that date, inform-- 
mg- me that Hie Committee of Public Sat'ety had authorized you, in 
the name of the Republie, lo appropriate a house for my use, as 
minister of tlieir ally., the Unitecl States of America, and in such a 
part of the city as I slicmld designate. I received tliis communica- 
tion with pcculiin" satisfaction, because I consider it a proof of Ihe 
sincere regard wiiich the Conunittee entertain for their ally, whose 
servant I am. But upon this occasion I am not permitted to indal'T'e, 
in any respect, my own opinion or feelings. The Constitution of my 
country, an extract from which is hereto annexed, lias prescribed a 
line of conduct for me, which it is my duty to follow. 

The Committee of Public Safety and you, citizen, respect too liigh- 
ly the fundamental laws of your own country, not to approve my 
reason for declining the kind oiler you have made me. I shall how- 
ever, immediately communicate it to my government, and doubt not, 
it will produce there the good effect it merits. 

Extract from the Constitution of the United States. 
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no 
person holding any office of profit or trust, under them, shall with- 
out the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, of- 
fice, or title of any kind whatsoever, from any King, Prince or Fo- 
reiirn State. 



Copy of a Idler from ihe Committee of Public Safety to James Monra% 
Minister Plenipotentiary of the United Slates of Jlmerica, I4f/i Vende- 
miarie^ 2d year of the French Republic. 

We hasten, citizen, to answer the letter which you addressed to us 
the 12th of this month, relative to the horses which you required for 
your use. Our answer is contained in the decree which we have adopt- 
ed, and of whicli a copy is enclosed. 

[Signed by tlie members of the Committee of Public Safety.] 



Extract from the Register of the Decrees of the Committee of Public Safety^ 
l\th of Vcademiarie, second year of the French Republic. 

The Committee of Public Safety liaving seen the letter of James 
•Monroe, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, of 
t^e 13th of this month, decrees, that the commission of transposts. 



41 



posts and passengers, be hereby autliorized to sell to the said James 
Monroe lour horses, at the price fixed by the law, relative to maxi>- 
mwn^ and to hquidate with him the exi)ense of the horses belonsfing 
to the RepubUc, which he has employed to the present day. 

[Signed by the members of the Committee of Public Safety.] 



AFFIDAVITS RESPECTING THE HOUSE AT PARIS, PURCHASED BY MR. MONROE 

FOR THE E.MBASSY. 

The undersigned hereby certifies and declares, that some sliort time 
after his arrival at Paris, in 1794, with, and a secretary to James 
Monroe, Minister Plenipotentiary Irom the United States, he the said 
James Monroe did enter into the purchase, and occupancy, of a cer- 
tain mansion house and pleasure ground, from one Mr. Foulon, and 
as tlie undersis"ned did then and does still believe, from the desire and 
intention often to the undersigned expressed, of ofiering the same as 
the fit and permanent residence, in future, of the United States' Min- 
isters near the French gove^-nment. The undersigned moreover de- 
clares that, during the whole of his long residence in Paris from an 
intimate intercourse on the subject with said Monroe's agent, Daniel 
Parker, he was and continues under the beliei' that said JNIonroe must 
sustain a loss of one half of the amount for which the said house was 
sold on account of some lien, or defect, imposed on him, in th.e orig- 
inal titles. 

Given under my hand vv^riting and signature at Montesano, near 
Batoj) Roui?e, this 12th day October, 1825, 

FULWAR SKIPWITH. 



CONSULAT AsiERICAN. 

In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundrel and ninety- 
six, and en the sixth day of August, personally appeared at the Con- 
sular General's Office of the United States of America, at Paris, be- 
fore me James Cole Mouutflorence, Ciiancellor to the aforesaid Con- 
snltee, and Notary Public duly sworn, Walter Burling, Esq. and Wil- 
liam W.. Norris, Esq. both citizens of the United States, who being 
both sworn, depose and say that they have severally resided at Par- 
is for a year past; that dnrin<r such their residence, they have been 
in constant habits oi intercourse with James Monroe, Esq. Minister 
Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, near the French 
Republic; that they severally believe that the said James Monroe, du- 
ring his residence in France has totally confined himself to his diplo- 
oKitic functions, and that the said James Monroe has not been spec- 
6 



43 

lUating in the lands or funds ol' this country, either directly or indi- 
rectly; that the said James Monroe has purchased a house, which he 
now occupies, and that it is the oply property in France they know 
iiiin to possess, and further these deponents say not. 

W. BURLING, 
WM. W. MORRIS. 

Sworn to before me, 

J. C. MOUNTFLORENCE- 



TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. 

The undersigned having resided in France during the years 1796 
and 1797, and having had the honour of being acquainted in the fami- 
ly of Mr. Monroe, the then minister from the United States of Amer- 
ica, near the French Republic, certifies that during the above-men- 
tioned period Mr. Monroe lived in a house wliich the undersigned 
knows he purchased with the intention and view of persuading the 
government of the United States to take it at what it cost, it being a 
suitabk house for their Minister to occupy; that he frequently heard 
Mr. Monroe say he should offer it to the United States for that pur- 
pose; tliat Mr. Monroe purchased said house and grounds about 
it of an individual, and not of the nation, it being an unconfiscated 
patrimonial estate, and not a national domain; that the said minister 
when recalled, was under the necessity, before he could leave Paris; 
of selUng said estate, which he did, and for a sum not much exceed- 
ing, if any, the amount of the original purchase, with interest and re- i 
pairs added thereto. 

WILLIAM LEE. 

Boston, February 5i/t, 18Q1. iij 



t)omnmweaUli of Massachusetts, Boston, ss. 

On this fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and one, before me, William Stevenson, Notary Public, 
by legal authority admitted and sworn, and dwelling in Boston afore- 
said, and a Justice of the Peace for the county of Suffolk, personally 
came and appeared William Lee, and in due form of law made so- 
lemn oath to the truth of the annexed certificate by him subscribed. 
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed 
[l. s.j my Notarial Seal, the day and year above written. 

WILLIAM STEVENSON, 
JVotary Public and Justice Peaoe. 



4S 
AFFIDAVIT OF GENERAL HULL, Feb. 13, 1801. 

NEWToif, Massachusetts, February 8th, 1801. 

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 

This may certify that I was in Paris in the year A. D. 1795, when 
Mr. Monroe was the minister of the United States, near the French 
Republic. That some time in the month of March, or the beginning- 
of April, Mr. Monroe informed me he had purchased an house, with 
a few acres of ground about it, and asked me to go with him and see 
it, I accordingly went and was much pleased with it. Mr. Monroe 
then observed that it was with reluctance that he had made the pur- 
chase, as the payment was attended witli some inconvenience to him; 
and that no consideration would have induced him to have done it, 
but that he considered it a suitable situation for the mmister of the 
United States, and it was his intention, when he left France to oifer it 
to the United States for that purpose. \ likewise understood from 
Mr. Monroe and a number of other gentlemen, that it was not a na- 
tional estate, but was purchased from an individual. I was likewise 
informed by a number of gentlemen, that it was with difficulty they 
had persuaded M. Monroe to purchase the estate, and that he was fi- 
nally influenced by tlie motive which I before stated, that it would be 
an advantage to the United States to hav« such a situation for the res- 
idence of their minister. 

WILLIAM HULL. 



Commoninealth of Massachusetts^ 

Middlesex, ss. Feb. dth, d. D. ISOl. 

Personally appeared before me William Hull, Esq. a Major Grenv 
eral in the militia of this comrnxonwealth, and made oath to the truth 
of the foregoing declaration by him subscribed. 

WILLIAM HUNT, 

Justice of the Peace. 



Boston, 5th February, 1801. 
James Monroe, Esq. 

Sir: Being informed that some reports have been circulated in your 
State reproaching your motives, and mistaking the circumst?inces 
attending the purchase of yom^ mission house in Paris, I take the lib- 
erty of sending you the following certificate, under ©ath, whieh you 
are at libertv to make what use of you please. 



44 

I, tlie subscriber, hereby certify that I was in Paris at the time James* 
Monroe, Esq. Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of Ameri- 
ca, purcliascd the mansion house which he occupied during his stay 
in tliat country; that the said mansion house, and land purchased 
witli it, were patrimonial estate, belonging to a private individual, and 
were not of" the royal domains, or a part of any estate belonging to emi- 
!j:rants, or that had been conftscated on anv accomit whatever. 

I further certify, that said estate was sold to said Monroe at the 
«ame price that it had been otiered to me, and which I refused, be- 
cause I could purchase at that time, and did ui fact, purchase other 
valuable estates in France on better terms. I well remember to have 
heard Mr. Monroe often say, that in case the United States should 
think fit to purchase a place of residence for their Minister at Paris, as 
they had done at the Hague, he should at all times be willing to sell 
them his estate at the price it cost him, but being recalled, without 
any authority to provide for the residence of a future Minister, he 
sold his estate for very little, if any thing more than it had cost him. 

BENJ. HIGHBORN, 



Translation of a letter from the Committee of Benevolence of the section of Bon- 
ne Rougey in reply to one from Mr. Monroe. 

Paris, the 23d of Frimair, 3d year of the Republic. 

The Committee of of Benevolence of the section Bonne Rouge^ to the Minister 
Plenipotentiary of the United States of America. 

Citizen: The Committee of Benevolence, the organ of the numer- i 
ous indigent of the secton of Bonne Rouge, to whom your letter has 
been sent, considers it a duty to communicate the satisfaction it has 
felt, and which it will feel, in distributing among this unfortunate class, 
the thousand livres which accompanied it. 

It is a consoling balm for the unfortunate, and a particular joy for 
you and us to know the comfort which they will derive from it, in 
tjieir deplorable state. 



MONTESANO, OcTOBEIl lOtil, 1825. 

Dear Sir: Shortly after your late retirement from Washington, I 
was favoured by you with a copy of the report of the committee on 
your message to Congress, respecting your private transactions, 
which I have read with great interest and attention. Having beeni 
during the whole of your two missions to trance, as- privy to yoijr 



I 



45 

private and public conduct, as, I presume, any other individual what- 
ever, I will, ill compliance with your request, proceed to state, in re- 
lation to both, and on the special subjects of your inquiries, tlie most 
in^portant facts which remaui still strong within my recollection and 

firm belief. 

Of the hundred, nay hundreds, of our countrymen clahning and 
suffering by the delay, or denial, of justice on the part of the French 
•joverument, when I arrived with you in Paris, in 1794, all now liv- 
iur^ I doubt not, would remember with me, that your predecessor, 
Mr. Morris, had from his imputed hostility to the French Revolution 
incurred so much the displeasure of that government, as to induce 
him to live very nmch secluded, generally in the country, and to at- 
tend to little else of public concerns, than granting passj)orts, which 
were not much respected by the French authorities, hi this state of 
thiusjs, v/e found our numerous suffering fellow citizens vainly de- 
pending on their own exertions for redress, or on those of private 
a^'ents, with little or no effect. When it fell to your more fortunate 
lot to be favourably received by the revolutionary government of 
France, as Mr. Morris's successor, those American claimants, no less 
than myself, must remember the extraordinary mass and press upon 
you, not only of their applications, but of those from most of the cora- 
niercial ports of the United States and of Europe, wliich compelled 
3^ou to employ other persons in aid of your Secretary, until the Con- 
sular establishment went into operation, and then, and durhig several 
years afterwards, the Consul, (myself) was mider the necessity of 
employing from three to five assistants. Nor can any man, an eye 
witness, in those days of the French Revolution, of the numerous 
forms, difficulties, and various Committees and authorities which 
you as the Minister, and myself the Consul, had to acconnnodate 
to, and transact business with, forget, how essential it was, 
in the advancement of the just rights, safety, and pecuniary claims 
of our countrymen, to open our houses, and to bestow all per- 
sonal attentions in our power, to a continued succession and round of 
men, possessing power, or office, or influence. It is but justice to 
you to declare, also, that throughout all those Revolutionary scene." 
and trials, I knew no foreign Minister, or Consul, so constantly at his 
post, and so incessantly aad successfully labouring with the French 
governmetit to redress the wrongs, and to promote the lawful inter- 
ests of the great mass of American citizens then in France, and else- 
where, appealing to her government for justice. 

With every sentiment of respect and friendship. 

I remain dear sir, 

FHT.WAR SKFFVVfJ'M. 
Mr, Monroe. 



46 

New York, 1 5th November, I82b. 

8ir: 1 am intbrmed by Mr. Lee, that I migiht possibly communicate 
to you some circumstances whichi could be useful relating to ttie oc- 
currences connected with your first embassy to France. I arrived 
at Paris, and had the honour to be presented toyoa, in the latter part 
of the year 1795, or in the beginning- of the year following. At that 
time, Mr. Prevost, the Secretary of Legation, Mr. Purviance, of Bal- 
timore, and my deceased brother, were all employed and assiduously 
engaged in the business of your mission. There were then great 
numbers of our citizens in Paris, having claims on the French "-ov- 
ernment, some for contracts made by its agents in this country, oth- 
ers for property sold at different seaports in France, to persons also 
employed by the same government; for which payment, in all cases, 
was sought for through your interference, which created a vast ac- 
cumulation of correspondence with the different departments of the 
French government, and with the seaport towns, the last of which, 
of course, was a heavy contingent expense for postage. About the 
middle of this year, (1796) my brother had a long and dangerous ill- 
ness, and I avail myself of this occasion to acknowledge once more 
my obligations to you and your family, for the attentions and assist- 
ance that were afforded him during a very long sickness, in a house 
which was hired by you for the legation; at this time I was employ- 
ed in the business of your mission, and thus remained in your family 
until your return from Holland. From my intimacy with all the gen- 
tlemen before named, and from actual employment for a part of the 
time, I must of course have been a witness to the arduous duties 
which devolved upon you, and the consequent labour to the persons 
employed by you, and I do most unhesitatingly declare my opinion, 
that the contingent expenses of your mission, for that year, were un- 
usually heavy. 

I do not know whether any thing I have written can be useful; but 
you will be pleased to receive it as an effort on my part, however 
feeble, in aid of your just claims; and as an evidence of the great re- 
spect I have for your public services at the time alluded to, as well a^-- 
those of more recent occurrence. 

I have the honour to be, 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

M. GELSTON. 



The following address is taken from the book which was publish- 
ed by Mr. Monroe, on his return from France, in 1797. It is mate- 
rial, as it sliews the sentiments which were entertained of his con- 
duct, in the discharge of his duties, by his numerous fellow-citizens, 
who were present, many of them, tlirough his whole mission, and 



47 

likewise the extent of his duties, and of the expenses to which he wa^ 
in consequence, exposed, proceeding from the state of the country 
and of its government. 



To James Monroe, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United Slates of America. 

Paris, December 6th, 1796. 

giR As chizens of the United States oi' America, it is with deep 

vecret we find, that your embass to the repubUc is soon to termi- 
nate, by the arrival of a successor. 

If there is a moment wliich marks, above all others, the unques- 
tionable sincerity of on address, it is that, wiien presented to a man 
who i« aoin,"? out of oihce. 

Li :■ iS situation it is, that your fellow-citizens, now at Paris, come 
to assure you of that honest and lively concern, which they feel on 
this occasion. Being on the spot, they have known, and it is with 
pleasure they testify, to your faithful and unabated application to the 
duties of your arduous office, and your encreased vigilance for the 
honour and interest of our common country. 

These, sir, are our sentiments of your official deportment, in affairs 
of a public nature; but when we recollect the readiness and zeal, 
with which you have so uniformly and ably advocated the individual 
interests of your fellow-citizens, m all the critical situations to wjiich 
the various circumstances of this country have so often reduced them, 
we can only lament the incompetency of language, to do justice to 
the force of the impression, and the extent of our obligations. 

To this, we can only add our most ardent wishes, that you may re- 
ceive that approbation from our country, which, as far as our obser- 
vation goes, we conceive to be justly due to your fidelity and eminent 
services. 

We are, with the warmest sentiments of respect and esteem, your 
affectionate fellow citizens: — 



Samuel Broome, senr. 
William Tudor, 
Jesse Putnam, 
.John Buffington, 
William Lowry, 
Nathaniel Cutting, 
Daniel Parker, 
John M. Forbes, 
John Houghton, 
R. Bennet Forbes, 
John G. Heslop, 
Josiah Sands, 
Thomas Lang, 



Robert R. Livmgston, 
Oliver L. Phelps, 
Robert Lyle, 
Jos. Whittmore, 
Ohver Champlain, 
D. Thompson, 
John Fleming, 
Stephen Blyth, 
Samuel Norwood^ 
James Hemphill, 
Benj. Callendar, 
John Grlste, 
Thos. Willard, 



A. Waldryhn, 
J. S. Eustace, 
Ephraim Wales, 
Edw. Brumfield, 
F. Rotch, 
Thos. W. Griffith, 
J. Higginton, 
Henry Worthington. 
John Hoomes, 
John Parker, 
F. HolUngswortli,^ 
Henry Fulford, 
Henry Johnson, 



48 



Louis Marshall, 
Joseph Russol, 
James V. Murray, 
J. P. Broome, 
M. Levenworth, 
J. Vouchev, 
G, Ilowelf, 
Z. Coopmnn, 
Samuel Fultoji^; 
William Lee, 



Thos. Darnforth, 
John liryniit, 
John Milchell, 
Stephen French, 
John Wheeler, 
Z. Walker, 
Eben. May, 
fianuiel Andrews, 
John Fabbe, 
Jona. Nesbitt, 



Thomas Paine, 
G. W. Murray, 
Wm. Vams, junr. 
Thomas Ramsden, 
J. C. Mountflorence,, 
James Anderson, 
Noel Faming, 
John Gregoire, 
Otis Amidon, 
M. Gelston. 



CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MR. MONROE AND MR. PAlNf:- 

When Mr. Monroe arrived in France, in August, 1 794, Mr. Paine was 
imprisoned in the Luxemburg, on which occasion the following cor- 
respondence took place between them, Mr. Paine had been arrest- 
ed with Brissot and other members of that party, most of wiiom had 
been guillotined. This correspondence is very volummous, but it is 
deemed unnecessary to publish more of it than the following extracts, 
which give a just \dew of his situation at that time. Mr. Monroe, 
though very anxious to obtain his discharge, considered it his duty, in 
the then state of affairs, to be very circumspect in taking any mea- 
sures in his favour. He had many interviews with members of the 
two great committees of the government, of '■'■Snlut Publique'^ and 
"(S'umfe Generalc,'''' before he made an official application for his re- 
lease, and it was after the affair was thus informally arranged, that he 
I addressed a note to the latter committee on the subject, a copy of 
wliich was enclosed to the Secretary of State, with his letter of Nov. 
i7t}i, 1794. Tlie two conmiittees met immediately, and j)assed an or- 
der for his release, v/hich was sent to Islr. Monroe, at day light the 
next morning. Mr. Monroe sent his secretary v/ith it, to the Luxem- 
•hurg, in obedience to which Mr. Paine was immediately discharged, 
?md broiigiit by liis secretary to the house. Mr. Paine was destitute 
•of every thing, and in ill he.-dth, p.nd Mr. Monroe took him to his house 
and accommodated him with lodging, money, clothes, &c. He lived 
with Mr. Monroe a year and a lialf, and when Mr. Monroe left France, 
Mr. Paine Ava.s indeijted to liim for moufy loaned, besides the other 
accommodations and expenses incurred on liis account, about 250 
Louis, .of wliicli no part was ever paid. 



i LuxEMEunc;, 29lh Thehmidok. 

j My Dear Sir — As ( believe none of the public papers liave an- 
nounced your name right, I am unable to address you bj'" it — but a 



49 

uew minister from America is joy to me, and will be so to every 
American in France. 

Eight months I have been imprisoned, and I know not for what, epv- 
cept that the order says that I am a foreigner. The illness I have 
suffered in this, and from which I am but just recovering, had nearly 
put an end to my existence: but life is of little value to me in tliis 
situation, though I have borne it with a firmness of patience and for- 
titude. 

I enclose you a copy of a letter, as well the translation as the ori- 
ginal, which I sent to the convention, after the fall of the monster 
Robespiere; for I was determined not to write a line during the exist- 
ence of his detestable influence. I sent also a copy to the Committee 
of Public Safety, but I have not heard any thing respecting it. 

I have now no expectation of delivery, but by your means. The 
g-entleman who will present you this, has been very friendly to me. 
Wishing you happiness in yom' appointment, I am, sir, yours affec- 
tionately, 

THOMAS PAINE. 



4th Year. 

Dear Sir: — I need not mention to you the happiness I received from 
(he information you sent me by Mr. Beresford. I easily guess the per- 
sons you have conversed with, on the subject of my liberation: but 
matters, and even promises, that pass in conversation, are not quite so 
strictly attended to here, as in the country you came from. 

I am not, my dear sir, impatient from any thing in my disposition; 
but the state of my health requires liberty and a better air; and besides 
this, the rules of the prison do not permit me, though I bave all the 
indulgence the concierge can give, to procure the things necessary to 
my recovery, which is slow as to health. The room where I am lodg- 
ed, is a grovnid floor level with the earth in tlie garden, and floored 
with brick, and so wet after every rain, that I cannot guard against 
taking colds, that continually check my recovery. If you could, with- 
out interfering v/ith or deranging the mode proposed for my liberation, 
inform the committee, that "the state of my health requires liberty 
and air, it would be a good ground to hasten my liberation. I leave 
it entirely to you to arrange this matter. 

Yours, affectionatelv, 

THOMAS PAINE. 



Paris, September 18th, 1794. 
Dear Sir:-— I was favoured, soon after my arrival here, with several 
letters from you, and more recently with one in the character of a me- 
moriol, upon the subject of your confinement, and should have answer- 
ed them at the time they Were respectively written, had I nqt qon> 
7 



50 

clii(J6d you would have calculated, with certainty, on the deep inter- 
est I take in your welfare, and the pleasure with which I shall em- 
brace every opportunity in. my power to serve you I should still 
pursue the same course, and for reasons which must obviously occur, 
if I did not find that you are disquieted with apprehensions, upon in- 
teresting points, and which justice to you and our country, equally 
forbid you should entertain. You mention, that you have been in- 
foriaed, you are not considered an American citizen by the Ameri- 
cans; and that you have likewise heard, I had no instructions respect- 
ing- you by the government. I donbt not, that the person who gave 
the information meant well; but I suspect he did not even convey, ac- 
curately, his own ideas on the first point; for I presume the most any 
one could say is, that you had become, likewise, a French cititzen; 
which, by no means, deprives you of the rights of an American one. 
Even this, however, may be doubted — I mean the acquisition of citi- 
zenship here. I confess you have said much, to shew that it has not 
been made. I really suspect this was all that gentleman who wrote 
you, and those Americans he heard speak on the subject, meant. It 
becomes my duty, however, to declare to you, that I consider you an 
American citizen, and that you are considered, universally, in that 
character, by the people of America. As such, you are entitled to 
my attention; and so far as it can be given, consistently with those 
obligations which are mutual between every government, and even a 
transient passenger, you shall receive it. 

The Congress have never decided upon the subject of citizenship, 
m a manner to regard the present case. By being with us through 
the revolution, you are of our country, as absolutely as if you had beefi 
born there; and you are no more of England, than every native of 
America is. This is the true doctrine in the present case, so far as it 
becomes complicated with any other consideration. I have mention- 
ed it, to make you easy upon the only point, which could give you 
any disquietude. 

Is it necessary for me to tell you, how much all your countrymen, 
I speak of the great mass of the people, are interested in your welfare? 
They have not forgotten the history of their own revolution, and the 
difficult scenes through which they have passed — nor do they review 
its several stages, without reviving in their bosoms, a due sensibility 
for the merits of those, who served them in that great and arduous 
conflict. The crime of ingratitude has not yet stained, and, I trust, 
never will stain, our national character. You are considered by them, 
not only as having rendered important services in our own revolu- 
tion, but as being, upon a more extensive scale, the friend of human 
rights, and a distinguished and able advocate, in favour of the pubUc 
liberty. To the welfare of Thomas Paine, the Americans are not, nor 
can they be, indifferent. 

Of the sense which the President has always entertained of your 
merits, and of his friendly disposition towards you, you are too well 



51 

aaeured, to require any declaration of it from me. That I forward 
hie wishes, iii seekinsr your safetly, is what I well know; and this will 
form an additional obligation on me, to perform what I should other- 
wise consider my duty. 

You are, in my opinion, at present, menaced by no kind of danger. 
To Uberate you will be the object of my endeavours, and as soon as 
possible. But you must, until that event shall be accomplished, bear 
your situation with patience and fortitvide. You will, likewise, have 
the justice to recollect, that I am placed here upon a difficult theatre; 
many important objects to attend to, with few to consult. It becomes 
me, in pursuit of them, so to regulate my conduct in respect to each, 
us to the manner and the time, as will, in my judgment, be best cal- 
culated to accomplish the whole- With respect and esteem, consider 
me, personally, yoar friend^ 

JAMEB MONROE. 

Th0mas,Painf;. ,^^^.^,^,. 



Luxemburg, 14th Vende^iEr^, Oct'r, 4th. 

Dear Sir: — I thank you for your very friendly and affectionate letter 
®f the 18th of September, which I did. not receive till this morning. 
It has relieved my mirvd Ironi a load of disquietude. You will easily 
.suppose, that if the information I received had been exact, my situa- 
tion w^as without hope. I had, in that case, neither section, depart- 
ment, nor country to reclaim me — But this is not all; I felt a poignan- 
cy of grief, in having the least reason to suppose, that America had 
so soon forgotten me, who had never forgotten her. 

Mr. Sabonidicre directed me, in a note of yesterday, to write to the 
Convention. As I suppose this measure has been taken in concert 
with you, I have requested him to show you the letter, of which he. 
will make a translation, to accompany the original. 

If the letter I have v/ritten, be not covered with better authority than 
iTiy Own, it will have no effect; for they already know all that I can 
.?ay. On what gro\ind do they pretend to deprive America of the ser- 
vice of one of her citizens, without assigning a cause, or only the flim- 
sy one of my being born in England? Gates, were he here, miarht be 
arrested on the same pretence, and he and Burgoyne be confounded 
together. I conclude, with thanking you again for your very friendly 
adid afTectionat^ letter. 

T am. Avitb great regard, yours, 

THOMAS PAJNE. 



RELATING TO iMll MONROE'S SECOND MISSION TO FRANCE. 

WashingtoNj Jan. 10, 1803, 

Governor J\[onroe: — ■ 

Dear Sir — I have but a iiiomeut to inform you, that the fever iiitt ■ 
which the Western mind is thrown by the atiair at New Orleans, stim- 
ulated by the mercantile and generally the federal interest, threatens 
to overbear our peace. In this situation,^we are obliged to call on 
you for a temp orar y ^acr i 11 c e^^ o f^^ v o u r self^. to prevent tliis prreatest of 
evils, in the present prosperous'tlde'ot our atfairs. I shali to-mdrrow 
nominate you to the Senate, for an extraordinary mission to France^ 
and the circumstances are such, as to render it impossible to decline; 
Ij^ause the whole pu blic hope will , be rested on you . I wish you to 
be^Ttlie'r"in''iiicnmona or" Albemarie, till you receive anotlier letter 
from me, wliich will be within two days hence, if the Senate decide 
immediately; or later, according to the time they take to decide. In 
the mean time, pray work night and day , to arrange your atfairs for 
a temporary absence — perhaps for a long one. Accept affectionate 
salutations. 

TH. JEFFERSON. 



Copy of a Letter from Mr. Jefferson to Col. Monroe, dated 

Washington, January 13th, 1803. 

Dear sir: I dropped you a line on the 10th, informing you of a 
nomination I had made of you to the senate, and yesterday I enclos- 
ed you their approbation, not having then time to write. The agi - 
tation of the public mind on occasion of the late suspension of om - 
riij ht of deposite at New Orleans, is extripine. TMs in the Western 
country is natural, and grounded oa operative motives. Remonstran- 
ces, memorials, &c. are now circulating through the whole of that 
country, and signing by the body of the people. The measures which 
we have been pursuing, being invisible, do not satisfy their minds; 
something sensible, therefore, has become necessary, and indeed our 
object of purchasing New Orleans and the Floridas, is a measure 
likely to assmiie so many shapes, that no instructions could be squar- 
ed to fit them. It was essential, then, to send a Minister Extraordi- 
nary to be joined with the ordinary one, with discretionary power, 
fit^t however, well impressed with all our views^ and therefore qual- 






6S 

ified to meet and modify to these every form of proposition whiclr 
could come from the other party. This could be done only in fre- 
quent and full oral communication. Having determined on this, 
ther e could not be two opinions as to the person.. You possessed the 
unlmntecl conhden"^ of the admmi?tration, and of the Western peo- 
ple, and were you to refuse to go, norther man can be found who 
does this.. All eyes are now fixed on you; and, were you to declme^ 
the chagrin would be great, and would shake under your feet the high 
ground on which you stand with the public. Indeed I know nothing- 
which would produce such a shock: for, on ^ the^evenfof iT Tia mij^wif^r^, 
depends The nrmi^destinfes~'Qf this "Repub lic^ we cannot, by a 
purcnase ot the cou#i;>4 ensjir^ to ourselves a course of perpetual 
peace and friendship with all nations, then, as war cannot be far dis- 
tant, it behoves us innnediately to be preparing for that course, with- 
out however hastening it, and it may be necessary (on your failure on 
the continent) to cross the channel. We shall get entangled in Eu- 
ropean politics, and figuring more, be much less happy and prosper- 
ous. This can only be prevented by a successful issue to your present 
mission. I am sensible, after the measures you ha ve tak en for ge ttinty 
into a ditfercnt line ot busines s, thaOTv ^dl l be a in ' E]gn:^acrVr ^ e_oii^ym^ 
^gg"aTid presents*lrom the season, and'otlief circumstances, serious 
"BlSculties. But some men are born for the public. Nature, by fit- 
t-ing them for the service of the human race on a broad scale, has 
stamped them with the evidences of her destination and their duty. 



fy^opy of a letter from Mr. Talleyrand to Mr. Livingston, dated Paris, 24th 

March, 1803. 

Paris, 1 Germinal, 11 year (24th March, 1803.) 

Sir: — I see with pleasure by the last letters, of the French Legation 
to the United States, that the species of fermentation raised there 
on account of Louisiana, has been carried back, by the wisdom of 
your government, and the just confidence which it inspires, to that 
state of tranquility which is alone suited to discussions, and which, in 
the relations of sentiment and interest existing between the two peo- 
ple, cannot but conducts them to understand themselves, upon the sim- 
ple difficulties of circumstances, and to bind more and more the bonds 
of their mutual union. I ought to own to you, sir, that, in the eclat 
which has been so lately given there to the affairs relating to Louisi- 
ana, it has been difficult to discover the ancient sentiments of attach- 
ment and of confidence with which France has always endeavoured 
to inspire the people of the United States, and who, from the first 
moment of their existence as an independent and sovereign nation, 
have always held their political relations with France, above all otlifc 
€r pnlitical relatione. 



54. 



How could the neiGfhbourhood of France affect unfavourably the 
American people, either in their commercial or political relations? 
Has the French Republic ever shewn a desire to impede the pros- 
perity of the United States, to lessen their influence, to weaken the 
means of their secm-ity, or oppose" any obstacle to the prooress of 
theii commerce? Your government, sir, ought to be well persuaded 
that the First Consul bears to the American nation tlie same aflection 
with which France has been at all times animated, and that he con- 
eiders tl^ie new means which the possession of Louisiana aflbrds to 
him of convincing the government and people of the United States 
of his friendly disposition towards them, in the number of advanta- 
ges which ought to derive from that acquisition. 

I shall, for tlie present moment, confine myself to this declaration, 
which ought to remove the inquietudes which you have expressed in 
your last letters. The subject is not established upon information suf- 
ficiently extensive to authorize a detailed explanation, hi announc- 
ing to me, moreover, tlie approaching departure of Mr. Monroe, ap- 
pointed Minister Extraordinary to discuss this subject, you give mc 
to conclude that your government desires that this Minister be wait- 
ed for and heard, that every matter, susceptible of contradiction, be 
completely and definitely discussed? In the mean time, sir, the First 
Consul charges me to assure your government, that, far from thinking 
that our new position in Louisiana could be an object of solicitude, or 
cause the least injury to the United States, he will receive the Minis- 
ter Extraordinary wliom the President sends to him, with the greatest 
pleasure, and that he hopes that iiis mission will terminate to the sat- 
iipfaction of both nations. 

CH. M. TALLEYRAND. 



Copy of a letter from Robert R. Livingston to Mr. Monroe, dated 

Paris, 10th April, 1803. 

Dear Sir: — I congratulate you on your safe arrival. We have long 
and anxiously wished for you. God grant that your mi^(si;>n may an- 
swer youi ? and the public expectation. War may do something i'or 
us, nothing else would. I hare paved the way for you, and if you 
would add to my memou's an assurance that we were now in pos- 
session of New Orleans, we should do well; but I detain Mr. Beuta- 
lou, who is impatient to fly to the arms of his wife. I have apprised 
die Minister of your arrival, and told him you would be here on Tues- 
day or Wednesday. Present my compliments and Mrs. L.'s to Mrs^ 
Monroe, and beheve me, dear sir, 

Your friend, and humble servant, 

ROBT. R. LIVINGSTON 

To his Excellency Jas. Monroe-. 



o5 

S Copy of the Extracts from Col. John Mercer^s Journal. 

•'Extracts from my journal, commencing on the dth of March, 1803, 
the day on which I sailed from New York for France. 

"April 8th, we arrived oft' Havre about one o'clock in the rnornlng-, 
twenty-nine days from Sandy Hook; two French pilots conic on board 
at three. 

"About one in the afternoon, Mr. Monroe was received with very 
particular and marked attention. A salute was fired from tlie fort 
soon after his being at the hotel. In the course of the day he v/as 
waited upon by the General conmianding at Tiavre, attended by offi- 
cers, who expressed their satisfaction at his safe arrival. In the even- 
ing a guard of fifty soldiers was paraded before the hotel, and order- 
ed to receive Mr, Monroe's directions; bui upon his requesting that 
cttily two might be permitted to remain, which he should consider 
equally respectful, the others were marched oil', and the two regula.*ly 
relieved. 

"9th. Finding it inconvenient on account of our baggage, &c. to 
proceed immediately to Paris, we remained at Havre this day. In 
the evening the officers of the Navy waited upon Mr. Monroe to pay 
their respects to him, as did several Americans who were in this town. 

"I'Jth. We left Havre at ten o'clock in the morning, and got to 
Rouen about seven in the evening. 

"1 1th, We departed from Rouen at eight in the morning, and ar- 
rived at St. Germain, within ten or twelve miles of Paris, at ten in 
the evening. 

"l2th. I arrived in Paris about one o'clock, P. M. with Mr. Monroe, 
he lea\'ing his family at St. Germain. Mr. Monroe immediately wrote 
a note to Mr. Livingston, the American Minister, informing him of 
his arrival, and of his intention to wait upon him in the evenings 
if Mr. Livingston would be at home, and without company, as he, 
Mr. M. was much fatigued with his journey, and a little indisposed. 
In Mr. Livingston's answer, he congratulated Mr M. upon his arrival 
— informed him he would be without company in the evening, and 
would be glad to see him, but if Mr. M. was too much indisposed to 
go out, he would do himself the pleasure of waiting upon him. 
jf^Iaving letters for Mr. Livingston, jr. from his friend, Mr. Cutting, at 
New York, I accompanied Mr. Monroe in the evening, to tiie Minis- 
ters. None but the family were present. We were received in a 
friendly and polite manner. We had been seated only a few minutes 
when the conversation turned upon the state of things in America a1 
our departm'e. In the course of it, Mr. Livingston asked "what had 
become of Mr. Ross's resolutions?" Being answered by Mr. M. that 
that they were superseded by others of a more pacific character, he 
said, "I am sorry for it." "I wish they had been adopted. O. ily force 
can give New Orleans to us;" and farther declared, that he believed 
nothing but the actual possession of the country by the Americans, 
would give success to the missioji in which he was associated with 



5(> 

Mr. M. To this Mr. M. made no reply. Upon leaving Mr. L.'s I ex- 
pre sod my surprise al the opinion entertained by this gentleman and 
regretted that the prospect of a peaceable result to the negotiation 
appeared to him .so gloomy. 

JOHN MERCER.V 



LcHci' from Mr. Monroe t-o Mr. Tallc\jrnnd, 

TO THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

Paris, May 19^ ISOS. 

8ir: — As sonic months will elapse before we can receive the deci- 
sion and commands of our government, respecting the treaty and con- 
ventions which we have had the honour to conclude with Mr. Mar- 
feois, under your ministiy, I consider it my duty to pursue^ in the inter- 
val, the remaining objects of my mission, which are now to be ad- 
justed with his Catholic Majesty the King of Spain. With that view, 
I propose to set out, as soon as circumstances will permit, to Madrid, 
ivhich I flatter myself will be practicable in the course of the iiext 
week. In the happy conclusion of our negotiation with your govern- 
ment, (a sentiment wliich I am persuaded will be always cherished, 
by botii nations, of the result,) Mr. Marbois promised, on the part of 
the First Consul, his friendly intercession and support of our negoti- 
ation, with his Catholic Majesty, for such territory as he claims East- 
ward of the Mississippi. Permit me to invite your attention to that 
subject, and request that you will be so obliging as to furnish me such 
aid, either by instructions at the Court of Madi'id, or ui such other 
mode, as may be thought most suitable to the character of the pow- 
ers interested, be best calculated to promote success in the object 
desired, and manifest the very friendly disposition of the First Con- 
sul to the United States, of which I entertain the most perfect confi- 
dence. 

I beg you to accept the assurance of mjMiigh consideration and es- 
teem. 

JAMES MONROE. 



(Joinj of a Letter from Col. James Lew>|s. 

To Coi.. James Monroe: — Albermarle. 

Albemarle, near Charlottesville, October 12, 182t), 

Km: In compliance with your request, that I would communicate 
the reasons which induced you to sell your laud above Charlottesville, 
while you were in Europe, in your mission to France, I readily make 



/ 



51 

you the following statement, which you will find subf?tantially correct, 
and will correspond with the report wliicli 1 formerly made to you; 
but as my papers are in Tennessee, and having only my memory to 
assist me, I cannot go so minutely uito the details as I could wish; 
but should you deem it necessary, on my return, I will be able to 
g^ive you an exact account of the quantity of land sold, the price it 
sold for, with every other information you may want, relative to the 
business I transacted for you, during your absence in Europe. 

As soon as you were appointed, you informed me of it, and that you 
must sail immediately, and requested me to come to Richmond, as you 
intended to give me the charge of your estate in Albermarle during 
your absence. I complied with your request, and proceeded forth- 
with to Richmond, which, as well as my memory serves me, was in 
January or F'ebuary, 1803. You appointed me your agent, with in- 
structions and a power of attorney to act for you during your ab- 
sence, with a power to sell a portion of your property to discharge 
your debts, should I at any time find it necessary to do so. You sta- 
ted to me that you only could advance me a trifle, and actually did 
not advance me more than one hundred dollars, if so much, and as- 
signed as a reason that the government had not made you such an 
allowance as would enable you to do it; that you would be exposed 
to great expense in your mission, and would require all the money 
you could obtain to bear it. You expressed great concern at being 
compelled to depart in such haste, that you could not settle your pri- 
vate affairs, nor make provision for any debts you might owe, 
but that you would not allow any person to whom you might be in- 
debted, to suffer in your absence. I took charge of your estate, and 
was able to avoid a sale for about two years, within which time you 
were expected home; but as you still continued abroad, and the pro- 
ceeds of the farm not being sulhcient to meet all the demands, and it 
being uncertain at what time you might return, and some of your 
creditors being themselves pressed for money, I thought it best to ad- 
vertise some of your property for sale. I accordingly advertised 
your large tract of land in Kentucky, and your land in this county 
that lay above Charlottesville. Not being able to get a bid for the 
Kentucky laud, I was obliged to sell the tract of land above Charlottes- 
ville, which contained, as" well as my memory serves me, something 
like nine hundred and fifty acres, on which the University now stands, 
and which I sold for five or six dollars the acre. The amount, I am 
confident, did not exceed six dollars. At the time I sold that land, I 
conceived it to be worth more; but being obUged to have a part in 
cash, for the payment of one of your debts, I could at that time do no 
better, and was acting, at the same time, agreeably to your instructions; 
to make a sacrifice, "rather than let your creditors suffer. Had you 
been able, at that time, to have advanced me the sum of two thousand 
dollars, I am confident I eould hare ma<le. the creditors easy, and not 



58 

been obliared to sell the land; and perhaps a less sum than that would 
have been sufficient. 

Vou also wish to know of me the difference in the price of the 
land that I sold, whereon the university is now fixed — that is, the dif- 
ference in the present prices. Having not been here for some time, 
I can only state the present prices from iaformation. I am told that 
an acre of land, which I sold lo Wm. G. Garner, on the road near the 
Rotunda, would sell at this time for seven or eight hundred dollars, 
and perhaps more. I am also informed that John M. Perry sold to 
Col. VVm. Garth one hundred acres at one hundred dollars per acre; 
that there have been sold other parts of t^e land, formerly yours, at 
eighty dollars per acre; and the remotest parts of the tract have been 
sold, or would now command, forty dollars per acre. But, as to the 
present prices of the land, you can get the most correct informatioa 
from the people of Charlottesville and its vicinity. 

I remam, with sentiments of respect, yours, &c. 

JAS. LEWIS. 

P. S. Should it be necessary, I am willing to qualify to the correct- 
ness of the above. My address in Franklin county, Winchester, Tea- 
nessee. J. L. 



MR. RINGGOLD'S DEPOSITION. 

Washington, February 14, 1826. 

When Mr. Monroe was appointed Secretary of the Department of 
War, in September, 1814, he appointed and selected me as the clerk 
in that department to take charge, under him, of all the money trans- 
actions thereof. Upon entering on these duties, it was found that a 
large amount of drafts, which had been accepted by the late Secre- 
tary of War, were lying over under protest; and that drafts for im- 
mense amounts were hourly appearing, for the payment of which the 
Treasury was totally unable to furnish funds, except in depreciated 
Treasury notes. Mr. Campbell had resigned the office of Secretary 
of the Treasury, and Mr. Dallas had not been appointed to succeed 
liim. Tiie only alternative left for Mr. Monroe, in this disastrous state 
of the finances of the government, was loans, to be obtained by the 
Department of War, under the sanction ol the President, if possible. 
By authorhy of Mr. Madison, the President, loans amounting to about 
five millions, were negotiated by Mr. Monroe, as Secretary of War, 
as will appear, reference being had to his correspondence, now on 
file in the Department of War, commencing with his letters of the 5th 
September, 1814, to General Bloomfield, and ending with a letter to 
Governor Shelby, dated 30th January, 1815. 



/ 



69 

In addition to these loans, Mr. Monroe borrowed larg-e sums from 
the Banks of this District, simply Ijy pledginjj the faitii of the govern- 
ment to pay them, with legal interest, so soon as the Treasm*y was 
in a situation to furnish the funds. 1 do not at present recollect the 
amount of these last mentioned loans; they were upwards of a million 
of dollars; and thus the g-overnment saved 20 per cent, on these 
loans, that bemg the difference between the par and the depreciated 
value of the government securities, at that gloomy period of the war. 

In the whiter of 1814-15, (January, 1815,) I think the Paymaster 
General received information, that his deputies had no funds in then- 
hands to pay the troops of General Jackson, defending New Orleans. 
I made application to Mr. Dallas, by order of Mr. Moru-oe, for funds 
to be transmitted to New Orleans, to pay this army. It was totally 
out of Mr. Dallas's power to furnish a dollar. Apphcation was then 
made to our District Banks, which we had belbre exhausted by 
loans: and refusals were received from all, with the exception of the 
Bank of the Metropolis, and the Farmer's Bank of Georgetown. The 
presidents of these histitutions furnished Mr. Monroe with ;p)125,000 
each; and Captain Knight, a deputy paymaster, was instantly di-s- 
patched with $250,000: and I have been inibrmed, arrived in time 
to relieve the pressing wants of Jackson's gallant army, by paying 
the notes of these two little Banks at par; when, the depreciated Treas- 
ury Notes of the government were refused throughout the country, 
by the creditors of the United States. And this loan was made ontlie 
bare word of Mr. Monroe, that the banks should be honourably paid, 
whenever the state of the Treasury would permit. 

Another transaction of Mr. Monroe's, while Secretary of War, ought 
to be mentioned by me, as it places his disinterested patriotism in such 
colours, that to withhold it would be sheer hijustice. In the year 1814, 
the Paymaster General was presented with a draft, from one of his 
deputies in the Northwestern army for !?^50,000, belonging (as my pre- 
sent recollection serves me) to the Miami Exporting Company, who 
had advanced the money in Ohio, for the amount thereof. Orders 
were given to William Whann, the Cashier of the Bank of Columbia, 
to whom the draft was sent for collection, tj protest and send it back 
instantly, if it was not promptly paid; and as Mr. Brent had no funds 
to meet it, except depreciated Treasury J^otes, Whann was on the point 
gf sending it back. Mr. Monroe, hou ever, prevailed on him to write 
to the holders, that the draft had been paid, on Mr. Monroe's accept- 
ing, in his private capacity, a draft, drawn on him at short date, lor 
$50,000, by the Paymaster General, and pleds-ing his word that it 
should be paid when at maturity. 1 have, within a few days, endea- 
voured to find this draft in the War Department, but am informed it 
cannot now be found; but the bill-book now in the Department, re- 
cords the draft accepted by Mr. Monroe. A short time after, anotiier 
draft was presented under similar circumstances and with similar or- 
ders, and Mr. Mom-oe accepted under like responsibility in his private 



GO 

capacity. Mr. Whann is dead, but I have been informed that Mr. 
William Stewart, a Clerk in the office of the Second Auditor, has heard 
iiim relate the facts, as above stated by me. 

All which is respectfully submitted to the Committee on the Claims 
of Mr. Monroe, in conformity to the letter of its chairman, dated Feb- 
ruary, 1816, requesting any information in possession, in relations ta- 
loans made by James Monroe, in 1814, 1815. 

TENCH RINGGOLD - 



>1N1S. 



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